


All I Know is Darling, I Was Made For Loving You

by crazyinfj, Eylle9



Series: All I Know Is Darling, I Was Made For Loving You Snapshots [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Addtional Tags to be added - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, I wouldn't say angst but there is some moments, Jeanette is an annoying little sister, M/M, MIT Era, Mentioned Drugging, Racism, Rhodey's parents are amazing, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Stan Lee Cameo, TW - Drugging, Tiberius is a dick, but im not good at fluff, but it is not supported, but nothing drastic will happen until they are both adults, i am aware that they are underage, rhodey's family can be seen as homophobic, roberta is an amazing mother, so just a warning, the Jarvis' are the actual parents let's be real, theres some fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23650912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyinfj/pseuds/crazyinfj, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eylle9/pseuds/Eylle9
Summary: Tony Stark. Nobody needed to know anything beyond the name to make assumptions. He was a Stark, strong, independent, a man who had the power of nations at his disposal. Loved by the public yet called by the tabloids unlovable. So who expected him of all people to be born with a soulmark?When James was born, nobody was surprised when they discovered a soulmark. But they were surprised at the location. It was directly on his chest, a detailed triangle surrounded by a circle.Or..What happens when fates collide? If you're Rhodey and Tony, you learn the lesson of love-it stretches beyond understanding.Through the questions, the years, and the days lost to time, Rhodey and Tony know one thing: when you know you were made to love someone, it becomes your sole purpose.
Relationships: Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis, James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa, Pepper Potts & James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Roberta Rhodes/Terrence Rhodes, past Tony Stark/Tiberius Stone - Relationship
Series: All I Know Is Darling, I Was Made For Loving You Snapshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143125
Comments: 24
Kudos: 134





	1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark. Nobody needed to know anything beyond the name to make assumptions. He was a Stark, strong, independent, a man who had the power of nations at his disposal. Loved by the public yet called by the tabloids unlovable. So who expected him of all people to be born with a soulmark? 

Soulmarks were usually passed down by generations, and if your parents had them, then you had a higher chance of having one yourself. Neither Howard nor Maria had one. Howard wasn’t capable of love if it wasn’t for a single super soldier who had been lost to time. Maria didn’t have one either, for the marriage hadn’t only been cursed from the very beginning, it had been arranged. Lured in by money and pressured by both sides of their families, Howard and Maria had started off their lives together on shaking ground. Soon, that shaking ground became an earthquake, and it was not long before they slept on opposite sides of their huge home, only staying together because that was expected of them. 

Roberta and Terrance were the exact opposite of the Stark spouses, both born with soulmarks and had gotten married in their early twenties after begging their parents for their blessing. Everyday they worked to love the other fervently and learned what most couples spend decades trying to learn: Love is work, lust is feeble. Together, they made a small ranch house their home, and made sure their home was filled with love and memories, not material objects. 

When James was born, nobody was surprised when they discovered a soulmark. But they were surprised at the location. It was directly on his chest, a detailed triangle surrounded by a circle. Whispers went around the Rhodes family, and as they got older, it became a joke. They all thought it was some religious mark and James was never allowed to live it down. 

“James is gonna marry a pastor!” His younger sister Jeanette, would tease, and he would chase her down the hallway and tackle her until Terrence or Roberta came in and chided the two for wrestling on the bed. 

Despite the teasing, James liked his mark. He liked where it was. It was easy to see without using a mirror and he wouldn’t ever admit it, but it felt good knowing that someday, he could love someone just like his dad loved mom. He just hoped his soulmate felt the same. 

Tony didn’t feel the same. He hated his mark with every fiber of his being. Was it pretty? Oh, it was stunning, perfectly even and one of the more intricate patterns than other marks. That didn’t make Tony appreciate it more. 

It was because of this mark that Howard beat him until every part of his back was covered in blood, demanding that Tony made the design. The prototype for the arc reactor. A miniature one, just like the one in his chest. The problem? Tony didn't know how to. 

“You're an unlovable boy. If someone takes an interest in you, run boy. They’ve gone mad.” Howard would hiss. 

“Your soulmate’s gonna run as soon as they meet you.” 

“Nothing you do will ever make them want you.” 

One day, when he was four, he learned just why Howard would tell him these things. 

“Jarvis? Why do I have an arc reactor on my chest?” Tony asked as the older man helped the young boy get ready for bed. 

“That is your soulmark. That means someone in the world has the exact same mark in the exact same place. They’re going to love you forever and no bond could ever break you apart.” Jarvis explained, hoping that despite what he knew Howard said that Tony would believe he was worthy of the love his soulmate would give him. 

“Do you and Ana have them?” 

“Yes, we do.” 

“Can I see it?” 

Jarvis rolled up his sleeve and on his forearm was a star. It was small, no bigger than a dollar coin, but Jarvis made sure to look at it everyday as he dressed, because that was the mark that brought Ana and him together. For him, it was bittersweet, because it was painful for Ana to remember her past, but despite that, Jarvis treasured his mark daily. 

Tony traced the lines carefully with his fingers, intoxicated by the beauty of such a small simple mark. It was the very first beyond his own that he had ever seen. “Howard says that mine was a mistake. He says that my soulmate is gonna run away.” 

Jarvis was a man whose composure was never broken. His self control was always in check, and he was respected for his ability to put up with the worst of Howard on any given day with the poise of a prince. But ever since Tony was born, Jarvis found that his tolerance of Howard’s actions and words seemed to plummet. 

“Young Anthony, I do believe your father was misinformed. Soulmates stay forever, through everything. It’s no mistake. You’re exactly what they’re gonna need.”

Tony didn’t look convinced, and Jarvis wasn’t surprised. He didn’t know everything Howard told the boy, but Tony idolized the man, and everything Howard said was inherently true to his four year old mind. Jarvis didn’t know much about psychology, but he suspected that Tony chose to believe those things in order to gain Howard’s affections, but Jarvis knew that the hope was feeble. For the years he had known Howard, he had never expressed love for the boy. Jarvis wished he was in a place that he could adopt Tony, but for now, he would take advantage of the fact that he could be a parental figure to the malleable boy. 

\--

Throughout the years, Tony and James grew up, matured as much as preteens could, and grew their love of science. Tony’s love was for engineering, and Howard let him have spare parts for bots if he made weapons. It wasn’t Tony’s ideal, but he loved making things, seeing how ‘broken’ the pieces were and creating something from the ‘brokenness.’ What he didn’t know is that while he fixed up computer parts, he was slowly breaking down himself.  
James loved planes. Ever since his grandpa had given him a model airplane for Christmas when he was three, he wanted to explore the skies. By six, he knew the entire planetary system and had read every book at the library about space, planes, and engines. At twelve, he told his parents he was going to be a pilot and fly passengers all around the world. At thirteen, he took the statement back, complaining that it didn’t help people. “I would rather help people than fly,” he decided. Then, Officer Burke, their neighbor, came back from his two year post, and the older man became James’ childhood hero when Burke suggested he go into the Air Force, the best of both worlds.  
\--

When James checked the mail and saw the envelope, he screeched. So loud that his other neighbors, a couple in their twenties, glared at him from their newspaper crossword. 

“Mama! It’s from MIT!” James shouted as soon as he opened the door. 

All three of the other Rhodes came running into the living room. “Don’t leave us hanging. Open it!” Terrence encouraged, prompting James to tear into the envelope. 

James eyes scanned the letter and he almost dropped the paper as he read aloud the first line “On behalf of the Admissions Council, it is my pleasure to offer you admission to MIT Class-”

“You got in!” Jeanette shouted, and jumped on James’ back, who braced himself for her hug. While she clung to his back, James’ parents congratulated him. 

“I didn’t have a doubt.” Roberta told him, and then began to dial the neighbors, insisting that they were going to celebrate. Years of James staying up late and studying so he could get an almost perfect GPA, and summers of working so he could pay for college, and so many scholarship essays, and it had finally all paid off. He was going to his dream school.

When Tony got into MIT, there was not nearly as much celebration. After all, Howard had bribed the right people so that his fourteen year old son could go to a school famous for their scientists. Tony’s boarding school had all but kicked him out, claiming that he was too smart for his own good, and that he was trying to teach the classes. After many promises that likely wouldn’t be kept, MIT accepted Tony into the following year’s student body. Maria had congratulated him and then retired to her room, apologizing and saying that her headaches were back. They were always plaguing her, but Howard told her to suck it up and take it like a woman, and Maria’s aches and pains slowly became worse. It was okay though, Tony was used to it. 

But Jarvis and Ana brought Tony to their little cottage behind the Stark’s huge house and they had a small celebration, with pie and a simple homemade meal. Out of every meal Tony had ever had, this had to go down as his favorite, even though it was far from lavish and they were using old china with cheap sparkling cider. The atmosphere was lighter, filled with love instead of tension, and Tony had never felt such a sense of belonging as he did that night. 

\--

When James imagined his dorm room, he imagined a small room barely big enough to hold his family, and a tiny closet-like bathroom. And he was kinda excited for that, because that was the college experience. But James’ wouldn’t lie, he liked the fact that he had a big bed. 

Apparently, someone named Tiberius Stone was supposed to be in this room, but bailed at the last moment. At the same time, MIT realized that they had not given James a room. So naturally, he got to board with whoever this rich dude was. All he knew was that his name was Anthony and that he was rich. With a room like this, he’s gotta have millions, James thought to himself. 

“Honey, I’m going to go out and get you some toiletries, Dad went with Jeanette to get lunch. Are you okay here?” Roberta asked James, who nodded. 

Barely minutes after she left, the door was flung open to reveal a boy no older than thirteen with a floppy mop of hair and a wrench in his hands. “Dum-e! If you spray that at me one more time!” the boy shouted, and James wondered why on earth someone would name their kid Dum-e. Talk about an ego blow. 

As James was pondering that thought, Tony wondered who the hell this guy was to put his dirty stuff all over Ty’s bed. So of course, being the patient and reasonable guy he was, he decided to confront him about it. 

“You have twenty seconds to tell me why you’re here in this room before I call security on you.”

James stared at him dumbfounded. Who did this kid think he was? His parents needed to take him down a notch and teach this kid some basic manners. “I’m supposed to be in this room. I don’t know who you are, but I’m quite sure you’re not Anthony.”

Tony then paused. “I am Anthony.” 

“Wait what?” James shot him a confused glare. “No, you’ve got to be some thirteen year old kid impersonating my roommate.”

“I’m fourteen.” The kid, Anthony, crossed his arms. “And you’re not Tiberius.”

“Who is-oh, uh, I was told Tiberius requested a different dorm placement.” James’ shoulders slowly released their stiff state and his voice got quieter at the end of his statement. If this was going to be his roommate, no matter how young this guy looked, he would still have to respect him. 

“Of course he did.” Anthony’s voice was bitter, and it looked like he would’ve spat on the ground had it not been for the gorgeous wooden floorboards that probably costed more than all the contents in James’ room back home. This whole mini studio apartment probably was worth the Rhodes’ house and their two cars altogether and then some. 

“I don’t really get what’s happening, but I’m James Rhodes. I think I’m your roommate.” James held his hand out and the guy in front of him just stared at him with the most unimpressed look, as if to say ‘I could buy you if I wanted to.’ Feeling awkward, James quickly put his hand down and glanced down at the floor. 

“You already know who I am. Call me Tony though, nobody except Jarvis calls me Anthony. He’s proper and all that shit.” Just like the sun emerging from the clouds, Anthony’s-no-Tony's, whole demeanor had changed and he lazily flopped onto the couch. 

“Oh, um okay then.” James turned around and began to neatly lay all his clothing on his more than generous bed. If Tony wasn’t going to say anymore, he’d get to work. He was always better at working than he was socializing. 

“Can I call you Rhodey?” The boy asked, after a nearly four minute silence between the two. It hadn’t been stiff or uncomfortable, but Rhodey was almost glad that his roommate had broken the silence, it made it easier to imagine it was going to be his home for the next two semesters. 

“Why on earth would you call me that?”

“Why not? I give everyone nicknames. Usually I don’t remember their names, so I just make it up as I go, you know, associate something with them. I think I’ll remember James, because my dad used to know a guy named James and he used to tell me all about him, but I like the sound of Rhodey. It’s kinda like how I call Tiberius Ty. He hates it, but I do it just to annoy him.” 

That single mouthful of words had James’ mind swirling with confusion. Too many points in a single conversation. One, he likes nicknaming people. Two, he does it because names are hard to remember. Three, his dad used to know a guy named James, might be a cool story to ask about later. Four, he wants to call me Rhodey. Five, this Tiberius is called Ty. But he doesn’t like it. Six, rooming with this guy is going to be the death of me. 

James didn’t exactly know where thought number six came from, but somehow he knew that it was true and this year was going to prove it. “You’re going to call me it anyways?” 

“Probably.” Tony grinned, and tossed a potato chip at the boy he now dubbed ‘Rhodey.’

“Seems like I don’t have much of a say either way.” James mumbled as he brushed the chip off his bed and onto the floor. He’d pick it up later. 

“You’re a fast learner, I think I like you.” So maybe, just maybe, Tony was taking back his initial thoughts on the guy. He seemed like a good person, if not a little too organized. The guy just needed to live a little, and Tony could provide loads of advice on how to do that. As soon as he was going to voice his thoughts, a visitor arrived. 

Loud beeping sounds could be heard from the doorway and James turned around to see a robot with a single claw heading towards his roommate with a towel in its claw. “Thanks buddy, yeah I know.” Tony said to the bot as it was beeping rapidly and began to poke him. At least, as much as a bot with a single arm could.  
After the bot got tired of poking Tony, he headed off towards James, and started beeping wildly and Tony just laughed. “Rhodey, this is Dum-e. He’s kinda a nuisance, don’t ever give him a fire extinguisher. Dum-e, play nice.”

“You made him?” James asked as the realization dawned on him. Even though this robot was kinda bulky and not the most agile, it was one of the more advanced things Rhodey had seen with his own two eyes other than planes. All of the sudden, James found his hand in the grasp of Dum-e’s claw.

“Yeah I did. Last year actually, I think he likes you.” Tony smiled, one that looked more genuine than the rest of the looks he had been shooting to James for the past hour. 

Okay, so maybe, just maybe, Tony’s heart was palpitating a little faster than what was considered healthy because Dum-e, his robot child, was clinging to Rhodey’s arm, and the picture was both adorable and made Tony want to kiss someone. And that someone wasn’t Dum-e. Who could blame him? His new roommate was attractive, strong, and tall. He seemed pretty smart too, and Tony almost wished he wasn’t dating Ty, or he would so hit on Rhodey. 

“That’s a very good thing, because he’s stuck with me for the year.” James grinned. Maybe this whole room dynamic would be okay after all. 

\--

The Rhodes and Jarvis met on their way up to the dorms, and by the time they all walked into the room, Jarvis and Terrence were deep in conversation.

“You must be Anthony, I’m Roberta, James’ mom.” Roberta smiled at the boy, but didn’t hold her hand out for Tony to shake. Instead, she placed a care package on the coffee table and handed the other to James. “I figured you might need some stuff yourself, so I went ahead and got some supplies for you. If you don’t like them, you can give them to someone else who might need it.” 

Tony hoped with all his heart that he wasn’t gaping. This woman, who by the looks of it, was not well off, just got him a bag of toiletries when she knew he had more than enough money to get a store of toiletries. Still, she managed to say it in a way that only Ana could, with complete sincerity, no ulterior motives, no harshness or regret, just because she wanted to, because her motherly instinct went off. “I can’t take this.” Tony suddenly said. 

“Is something wrong with it?” Roberta asked, but the question held no anger, or even frustration. She was studying him, and instead of yelling, she motioned for him to sit down. “Why can’t you accept this gift?”

“Mrs. Rhodes, thank you, it means a lot, but, but, I could buy an entire store of these things. Why would you buy this for me?” Tony asked, at the last part, he played with the end of a pillow and refused to look up into her eyes and see the pity or offense she would have. 

Roberta stayed silent until Tony looked up, and when he did, he saw no trace of anger, offense, or frustration, instead sparkles of love and warmth. “I didn’t get you this because I thought you couldn’t do it yourself. Something just told me you might need a motherly welcoming gift.” 

“Really?” Tony croaked, his voice barely over a whisper, his eyes glossy but he refused to cry. Stark men were made of iron, forged in flames. They did not cry. Especially not over a gift of toothpaste of all things.

“Yes, I did, and I would love it if you accepted my gift.” 

“Thank you Mrs. Rhodes.” 

“Please, call me Roberta, and if you ever need me, I’m your college mom.” Roberta smiled as she stood up and smoothed out her dress. “Do you need help unpacking at all?” 

“Actually, yeah.” Tony said, again, hardly more than a whisper. He wasn’t used to asking for help, and if he did, it would’ve ended up with yelling, not actual help. Something told Tony this was different, that they actually wanted to help him. 

The next hour consisted of the Rhodes family, along with Tony and Jarvis, unpacking the boys’ clothing, while Jeanette threw clothing at her brother. In a very short amount of time, she had adopted Tony as her other brother and was flinging articles of clothing at him. Had it been any else, Tony might’ve flinched, but he was safe, he was loved, and it finally felt like he was home. With family. 

As he shoved his pants into a drawer, he heard Jarvis yelp. “Anthony! That is not how you do it!” 

“It’s fine. It’s going to get messed up anyways.” 

“Someday you’ll understand.” Jarvis vaguely said as he threw the clothing out of the drawer and sat on the bed to fold them.

As they continued unpacking, Tony’s favorite song of all time came on, We are the Champions, made by the best rock band in the world, Queen. 

Soon everyone was singing along, and Dum-e, bless his robot heart, flickered the lights on and off so it looked like a disco party. Minus the actual disco, but by the end of the song, everyone, including the ball of energy that was Jeanette Rhodes, was out of breath. Someone was pounding on the wall insisting that they tone it down. “I could get used to this.” James spoke, and glanced at Tony, whose whole face lit up at the statement.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You have a soulmark?”
> 
> “I didn’t tell you?” 
> 
> “You failed to mention that one.”

Somehow, they had survived their first month at MIT and now it was their third month at school. Tony already almost had all his credits for his first degree, while James was going at a “normal speed Tones.”

Along the way, James adopted the name Rhodey and when he was referred to as James, his other friends would gape, realizing that his given name was not Rhodey. And somewhere along the line, Rhodey had started calling Tony Tones, claiming it was easier to call than Tony. And with the amount of times Rhodey would drag his roomie out of a compromising situation, it was probably a good thing that he shortened the name. The upperclassmen in their hallway even had a tally of how many times Rhodey had yelled, “Tones! Stop it right now or so help me god!” Currently, they were at twenty two, a record that was still going strong. 

While that record was going strong, Tony and Ty’s relationship was not. Apparently, Rhodey learned, they were in a relationship when they had gotten to MIT, but Ty had been mad and refused to room with him. Their relationship was a series of ups and downs, as Ty wanted complete control over Tony. Tony on the other hand, just flipped him off and kept on doing whatever it was that he wanted to do. Rhodey watched the dynamic painfully, and would tell Tony his opinion. 

“No one should be controlling you.” He would tell Tony as the boy cried over his cheap takeout in pjs curled up on the couch because Ty called him a stupid, spoiled rich boy again.

But Tony would argue, “I’m a bottom. I always have been.” 

“Look dude, I don’t wanna know about your sex life, but I’m pretty sure you’re not a submissive bottom. Oh if my mom heard me now she’d wash my mouth out with soap.” 

“But he wants me to be submissive. How do I do it Rhodey? What do I need to do?” Tony pleaded, and Rhodey’s heart ached a little more. Tony was throwing everything he had into this relationship, and no matter how many times Rhodey told him it was toxic, the boy didn’t understand. 

“You shouldn’t have to change for him. Come on Tones, look at me. I don’t want you to change. You’re my best friend, please don’t change just because Ty can’t look up and see how amazing you are already.” 

“I could be better though.” Tony whispered, and leaned into Rhodey’s side. 

“Yeah, we all could. But this isn’t going to make you better, it’s not going to make you happy. Tones, you gotta stop this.” 

“What if I do?” 

“Well, you’re a bachelor again, and you’ve got your whole life to figure it out.” Secretly, Rhodey hoped that Tony wouldn't be single, and that Tones would date him, but he chose not to voice said thoughts. That wasn't what Tony needed right now. 

“Will you still be there?” Asked a small voice buried in Rhodey’s chest. 

“Of course Tones, I’ll always be there.” 

“I love you Platypus.” 

“Love you Tones.” Rhodey whispered into Tony’s soft hair as he picked him up and carried him to the bed. 

“Stay with me.” Tony mumbled, already only half awake.

“I’m going to be right over there.” Rhodey pointed to his bed, and even though it was semi-dark, he knew Tony would understand where he was motioning towards. 

“No.” Tony whined, and yanked on the older guy’s arm. Giving in and supposing that he could leave once Tony was completely asleep, Rhodey reluctantly curled next to Tony. He wouldn’t ever say it out loud, but Rhodey wanted to be in Tony’s bed, well, if he was really going to give into his desires, it would be their bed. He wanted to come home every night and hug Tony, and listen to the guy’s ramblings for hours on end. He wanted to be with Tony. That was it. But it wouldn’t happen, and Rhodey had accepted that. He was okay with being Tony’s friend, he just had to keep himself in check a lot more. That was how life went, right? 

\--

After coming back from ROTC, Rhodey was hoping for a calm evening, maybe he would get to bed early and perhaps get a full eight hours of sleep. But as soon as he stepped into his hallway, he could tell that wasn’t going to happen. Every door was closed except the one that was his, and a shouting match could be heard across the dorm. 

“Oh thank god.” Aaron said, leaning against the wall. “I’ve been waiting twenty minutes for you to come. They’re not throwing punches yet, but Ty has threatened to.” 

Everyone in the dorm was protective of Tony. He was the small little brother, slightly annoying and full of energy, but someone they would lay down their lives for if necessary. They all disliked Tiberius, but nobody but Rhodey dared speak their minds to him. And nobody was as protective as Rhodey. As soon as Tiberius fucking Stone raised a finger, Rhdoey would drive him into a wall. 

“Fuck you!” Tony yelled. 

“This is where you shut up. You’ve been fucking Rhodey. You don’t fuck men like him. He’s a slave, he’s black.” Ty hissed. 

Rhodey was tempted to break down the door and show Tiberius just what his fist could do, but Aaron held Rhodey back. 

“He’s just running his mouth.” Aaron whispered in Rhodey’s ear. 

“I’m not a slave.” Rhodey whispered, as he felt his body go limp. "I'm not a slave Ar."

“No you’re not.” Aaron agreed, and let go as he felt the man’s fight go out of him. 

“I’m not fucking Rhodey!” Tony yelled back. 

“He was in your bed!” 

“I would not cheat on you!” 

“I don’t do three person relationships. Your mine or you’re not.” Ty said, looking down at the younger boy. 

“I’m still yours.” Tony whispered, reverting back to the small submissive boy he was when Ty looked at him like that. 

“No, now you’ve been tainted. I don’t want you.” Ty said as he raised a hand. 

Suddenly Rhodey slammed open the door and Ty's head snapped up, fear dancing in his eyes. 

“Get out of this room before I murder you.” Rhodey snarled before running over to Tony who was sobbing and holding his face. 

A moment later though, Tony was wiping his tears away and looked at Rhodey with a sad smile on his face. “You were right. I can’t be his sub. I can’t be his soulmate.” 

Everything Rhodey was going to say was stuck in his throat. “Tones. I didn’t want to be right.” He whispered, as Aaron awkwardly shuffled out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Rhodey trusted that he and the rest of their friends would properly take care of Stone. 

“He didn’t even have a soulmark, why did I even date him?” Tony asked, not searching for an answer. 

“You have a soulmark?” Rhodey asked suddenly. 

“I didn’t tell you?” 

“You failed to mention that one.” 

Somehow that reaction made Tony feel worse. He knew he was unloveable, okay Rhodey? He knew it. But he didn’t need it rubbed in his face. Instead, he held his head high and proud and gave Rhodey a defensive look. 

“Look, I know it sounds impossible, but someone out there is gonna love me.” Even as he said the words he didn’t believe them, but that didn’t matter. Only Rhodey had to believe them. Tony just had to play the part of believing them. However, Rhodey could read him like a book, and would see right through the defenses he was putting. And sometimes, Tony hated that. 

“I didn’t mean it like that Tones.” Rhodey said as he ran his fingers through Tony’s curls. “I know someone loves you out there, it’s not hard to imagine. You just never told me.” 

“M’sorry.” Tony mumbled. 

“It’s okay Tones. Let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll binge watch some crappy show.” 

Tony let himself be led to the bathroom, where Rhodey started the shower and tested the temperature of the water. 

“Can you do this yourself?” Rhodey asked. As weird as it would be helping his best friend clean himself, he didn’t want Tony to spend the entire evening sweaty and dirty.   
Tony shook his head and Rhodey nodded. 

“Okay, umm, get undressed and I’ll come in once you’re in the shower.” 

“Please Rhodey?” Tony whispered, barely able to hold himself up. “I can’t do it without you.” 

Rhodey saw the pure trust in Tony’s eyes and he couldn’t say no. Tony was so broken, so beaten down right now, and as long as Rhodey was careful, everything would be fine. So all he did was grab an extra towel and turned around to get undressed. 

He had been in enough locker rooms and compromising situations before. ROTC was one prime example, but Rhodey was definitely not prepared to shower with someone. Especially when they had a strictly platonic relationship. Even though he wanted it to be something more, this was a little too much for Rhodey’s standards. But he just shook his head and pulled back the curtain. Five minutes right? It would be perfectly fine, just a friend helping another friend. That’s all it was. 

\--

When Rhodey stepped into the shower, Tony looked up and gasped, as Rhodey stared at his face confused. Backing up in confusion, Tony hit the wall and Rhodey finally understood why he was reacting in such a way. 

“We’re soulmates?” whispered Tony, who if Rhodey didn’t know any better, had a little bit of hope in his voice. No, it was probably just his imagination wanting it to be true. 

Tony reached out and his hand made contact with Rhodey’s chest, and he ran his hand along the raised black skin that decorated Rhodey’s torso. Rhodey watched as Tony's work-calloused hand brushed against his body, the contrasts of their skin making a beautiful painting of love, of adoration, of loyalty. 

Slowly, still processing everything that just happened in the last twenty seconds, Rhodey took Tony’s hand into his own. “Yeah, and you’re stuck with me til we’re gray and old.” He gave him a lopsided grin and watched Tony's eyes widen in surprise, and then sparkled in happiness, in hope. 

Their first kiss wasn’t romantic like the movies, in front of a monument, in a garden, and it wouldn’t ever be framed. But as water streamed down their bodies and they traced over each other’s skin, it was perfect in every sense. 

“Can I?” Rhodey asked, holding the bottle of their overly expensive shampoo. Tony claimed that no shampoo had ever made his hair so amazing, and ranted about this brand to no end. At some point, he had bought another bottle for Rhodey, and now they just used the same one. 

Tony basked in the heat as water pounded down his back, trusting that with Rhodey he could close his eyes and know that he wasn’t going to get hurt. It was a free feeling, knowing that your soulmate, the one you were destined to be with, was someone you could trust with everything. How had he not seen it before? He was a scientist for goodness sake! In his defense though, Rhodey hadn’t seen it either, and he was a scientist, too. Right now, as he soaked in this new feeling, he was just glad that they knew now, because they had their lives ahead of them. That was of course, if Rhodey wanted that. 

Once Rhodey had successfully scrubbed all the bubbles out of Tony’s hair, Tony returned the favor, even though Rhodey had a military cut and there wasn’t much hair to wash. Still, there was something intimate about washing your soulmate’s hair and rubbing your fingers along their scalp as they relaxed against your body. 

Fumbling out of the shower, the two dorks remained quiet as they got dressed and neither said anything as Rhodey put on Hogan's Heroes, an episode they had already watched a million times. 

When they settled down, Tony finally broke the silence. 

“Did you mean what you said? That you won’t leave?” 

“I meant it.” Rhodey answered, without a sign of hesitation. 

“I mean, I know we’re soulmates and we’re supposed to balance each other out and all that shit but you don’t have to stay. I get it if you don't.” 

“Tony, I love you, okay? I’ve loved you since the day we met. Since you started singing to Queen. I love you even when you piss me off, which is a lot. I wanna do this, and you’re not going to stop me.” 

“You love me?” Tony whispered, sitting up and looking into Rhodey’s eyes. “You’re not kidding?” 

“Tones, I could never not love you. It’s always been you okay? When I punched that kid who made fun of your family, I finally realized it. I wanna do forever with you, even if we don’t have a white picket fence and you are the CEO of SI, and I’m doing military stuff, and we end up eating frozen pizza for the rest of our days. I want that Tones.” 

Tony was freezing up. Why did he bring this up? Out of all the things he could say, he had to question Rhodey’s relationship with him? He knew that Rhodey would burn the world down in order to prove his devotion, and the emotion that Rhodey was conveying scared him. Feelings were not his thing. Usually he could just throw around money and it would solve the problem, but money wouldn’t solve this. And it wasn’t really a problem, Tony was just worried that they weren't going into this with much foresight. When did he become the mature one? 

“Look, I don’t think you’re thinking this through. Platypus! I’m Tony Stark, I don’t do relationships, I don’t do emotions, I do money, bombs, that sorta thing. I’m a stubborn bull and I lash out on others when I’m scared and I lock myself away for days at a time. You don’t deserve that. You could get any guy in this whole world, why settle for me?” By now, Tony was pacing around the room, not yelling, but his voice was raised, in exasperation more than anything. 

“I know exactly what you’re like Tones. I’m the one that feeds you after that two day binge, I’m the one that drags you into a class even though you’re hellbent on going the other way. I’m the guy who takes every racist slur, every ‘you’ll never be good enough’ or ‘you’re probably a terrorist.’ Yeah, you know how to push my buttons, but I can handle myself, and I know how to shut voices out, I-“

Tony interrupted Rhodey with a raise of his hand. “Look, when I tease, it’s names, it’s a dirty comment here or there, but when I attack, it’s not good, I go for what I know hurts and I’m working on it. But... I’m not there yet. I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“Tiberius called me a slave. You know that did a number on me. Are you gonna call me a slave?” 

“No, of course not, that’s disrespectful to you and every other-“ 

“Exactly. Tones, please, I want this. I want us. I haven’t said anything because you were with Ty, but we’re mates Tones, meant to be.” 

"Howard says otherwise." Tony whispered, turning around so Rhodey couldn't see his face. 

"Since when do we listen to what Howard says here? He's wrong. Look at Jarvis and Ana, look at my parents. Look at me Tones."

Tony didn't turn around, and Rhodey came over quietly, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder and leaning his head against the genius'. "Give us a chance. To prove to you that we can work. Please Tones."

"One month." Tony whispered and turned around so his head was on Rhodey’s chest. "One month, and if it doesn't work, you won't press this ever again."

"Deal."

"Deal."

\--

"Can I tell you something mom and you won't freak out?" 

Roberta froze on the other end of the receiver. He wasn't going on tour yet was he? Not her baby. She couldn't handle that worry right now. Taking a breath, she answered. "Whatever you want to. You can tell me anything.” Even if it breaks me, Roberta thought, but didn’t voice it. She would be strong for James, who would need her support more than anything. 

“I found my soulmate. It’s Tony, Momma.” Rhodey told her. 

Roberta sighed in relief and then smiled. “I have another son! James, I’m so, so happy for you two.” 

“He gave me a month to prove to him that we can work. What do I do Momma? I really want us to work.” Rhodey sounded so desperate, and Roberta wished she could hold him in person and reassure him that it would all work out. 

“Look honey, Tony’s been through the wringer. I don’t know much, but I think he was abused. I noticed when I met him. You saw how skinny he was, how he flinched and wouldn’t take my gift. He doesn’t think he deserves you baby, but you can show him how it’s supposed to be. Show him how a man is supposed to treat his spouse. Show him what love is. That’s all I can tell you to do.” 

“You’re not mad I’m with a guy then?” Rhodey asked. They had talked about it his junior year, when Rhodey had confessed that he didn’t feel an attraction towards women but rather men, and Roberta and Terrence had been very supportive, telling him that all they wanted was for him to be in a happy, healthy, loving relationship, and that gender wasn’t a thing they were particularly concerned about. Unlike other parents (especially from their generation) Rhodey’s were much more accepting of more modern ways and change. But still, Rhodey wanted to be sure if his family supported them. 

“Are you kidding? No, I get another son! And Tony is just about the sweetest boy I’ve ever met.” 

“Actually, he’d like to talk to you if that’s okay. I love you Momma.” 

Roberta could tell the other end of the receiver had been passed over because the breathing changed, and she could hear Tony’s quiet whisper on the other end. She had only talked with him two times since they had met in person, but Roberta already loved him with all her heart. 

“Hi Momma.” Tony greeted, his voice soft. He had taken to calling her Momma by the end of their first call, when he had needed to cry to a woman about Tiberius Stone. She hated that boy with everything inside of her. Hurting her son Tony like that. It was a good thing she didn’t live close enough to not miss work for punching him in the jaw. 

“I broke up with Ty.” He told her, and she secretly rejoiced on the other end. 

“I’m sorry honey.” 

“He was a jerk, and he insulted Rhodey.” 

“Excuse me? He did what now?” 

“You can punch him when you pick Rhodey up for Christmas.” Tony assured her. 

“Trust me, Tiberius will get put in his place. But let’s not waste precious time talking about that waste of oxygen.” She heard a laugh in her ear. “Are you and Rhodey going to-“ 

“I’m scared Momma.” Tony admires, and Roberta couldn’t tell if it was Tony’s voice cracking or bad reception. “I know Rhodey bear would never hurt me, but I’m scared. What if I do something wrong and he hates me?” 

“I can tell you right now my boy James will never hate you. None of us will. You’re a part of our family. And Tony, you’re going to mess up in a relationship. But he’s going to as well, but you’re soulmates. That means that your bond is unbreakable.” 

“You really think we could work?” Tony asked, and his voice had a trace of hope mixed in. 

“I know you can. You two are the smartest boys I’ve ever known, and knowing how you both engineer the craziest stuff, your relationship is going to be, well, unique.” 

“I’m gonna be a CEO of the biggest weapons company on earth, and he’s going into the Air Force after college. How do you create a relationship when you’ve got those types of jobs?” 

“All I know is that you’ve still got three years of college ahead of you. Tony, build your relationship now and it will be able to stand the test of time. Challenge each other,   
encourage each other, and love him with all your heart. That’s how you should start.” 

“Okay, I’ll try.” Tony agreed, and then waved Rhodey over. “BYE! LOVE YOU!” The two yelled into the phone, and Roberta smiled as she hung up. 

Terrence, who had just walked in with the milk she needed for waffles, greeted her with a kiss. “What are our two MIT dorks doing today?”

“Tony is Rhodey’s soulmate.” Roberta said, finally processing what that meant. Tony Stark, the richest teenager in the Eastern Hemisphere was their son-in-law. Not that the money meant anything to Roberta or Terrence, who saw the boy for who he was, a floppy haired, genius who was in need of family, something the Rhodes could freely give to him. But now, he was family in more than one way. 

“So our two boys are overthinking a relationship, is that it?” Terrence smiled as he looked over to the phone on the wall. “They were thinking years into the future instead of right in front of them.” 

“You know how their minds work, always processing and never staying still.” 

“Trust me, I know, I happen to be married to the smartest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.” Terrence teased as he wrapped his arms around Roberta’s waist and peppered her face with kisses. 

“You’re such a tease.” Roberta gently swatted at him, but didn’t actually make a move to leave his embrace. 

“And you love me for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading :)
> 
> I do realize that Rhodey has turned 18. I'm not marking this underage due to the fact that their is no sexual content (other than kissing), but please know that both Eylle9 and I realize that they are young and dumb, and we in no way are supporting adult/child relationships. In this fic, they are soulmates, so in this AU, people don't judge them based on age due to the fact that they will undoubtedly spend their whole life together.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gave Rhodey a month to prove that soulmates could work-but time is almost up and Tony's still not convinced.

It wasn’t a secret that Tony Stark had a crush on James Rhodes. If it wasn’t noticed by their constant physical touch, it was the way Tony looked at Rhodey like the guy had laid out the galaxy. Wherever the ROTC student was, Tony was either right behind him or waiting for his arrival somewhere. Most people thought it was cute, just a childish crush; after all, Tony was only going to be turning 15 in the spring. So most of the MIT student body waited for the inevitable day that James Rhodes would have to put an end to the boy’s constant seek for attention and approval. 

Rhodey wanted to laugh in their faces and tell them just how wrong they were, but with the self-control he didn’t know he had, he held himself together and ignored every rumor that came his way. He didn’t need their approval, Tony was his, and nothing they could do was going to stop Rhodey from getting _his_ man. Not Stark Industries, not the military, not his family, and definitely not a few hormonal teenagers who were racist gossipers who had nothing better to do than waste their scholarships. 

It was their last week of the one month trial, and Rhodey was pretty sure he had Tony convinced. He sure hoped so, between burning down their cubicle kitchen, accidentally teaching Dum-e how to use a shredder (a story that would die with the two teenagers), and almost getting expelled, Rhodey knew he hadn’t been subtle about wanting this. The more it happened, the more Tony wanted it, and the more Rhodey was glad to douse him with love. Sometimes he wished he could just grab a bucket of love and dump it on his not-boyfriend. 

Contrary to what Rhodey thought, Tony still wasn’t completely convinced. He loved Rhodey. More than he had loved anyone. Still, the crippling fear of losing Rhodey was what held him back. There were so many ways he could mess it up and leave Rhodey heartbroken, and selfishly, Tony didn’t think he could live with himself if he did. Yeah they had kissed. And touched, and shared moments that Tony wouldn’t dream of having with someone else, but could he do it? Be Rhodey’s soulmate, everything he needed? 

His answer came in one of the strangest ways possible. Like most of their “not dates” as Tony called them, Rhodey _tried_ to make it romantic-keyword: tried. 

They had driven to the heart of Boston where shops already had holiday decorations up and lights twisted around every street lamp. They had been planning on Christmas shopping, but Rhodey had a better idea in mind. Pulling at his arm, Rhodey dragged Tony through the streets until they got to an obscure bench with a man sitting on it. 

“Tony, this is Mr. Lee, I met him at the library. Mr. Lee, meet Tony, the guy I’ve been telling you about.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Tony nodded, and Mr. Lee just smiled. 

“So, I’ve been working on this thing, I call it a drone, and Mr. Lee helped me paint it." Rhodey rummaged around in his backpack and pulled out a large mini helicopter looking thing. 

He then pulled out a controller which had a joystick and a few switches. "Watch this Tones." 

As soon as Rhodey turned it on, the helicopter began to whir to life. Slowly and deliberately, Rhodey guided the mini flying object up in the sky. After a few minutes of controlled flying, he passed the rather huge controller to Tony, who flew it as high as it could go without falling out of the sky. Rhodey just shook his head and grinned at him, secretly hoping that the drone would not somehow end up in water. 

Passing the remote back to Rhodey, Tony pulled out his phone. "You could totally put a camera on that thing and spy on people." Tony suggested. “I could have the R&D section right on this!”

“Tones, I made this for you. It’s not a weapon.” Rhodey answered, trying to hold his teasing tone, but falling short. 

Tony quickly became serious and put his phone back in his pocket. “I’m sorry Rhodey, I promise I won’t send them the pictures.” His face morphed into guilt and he looked like he was about to cry. “I fucked this up didn’t I?” 

Rhodey dropped his controller and wrapped his arms around Tony. “You did nothing wrong, you hear me? It’s okay, look at me Tones.” 

Sniffling, Tony nodded and then started to laugh hysterically, “Well Prince Charming, it looks like you’re going to get wet if you want your drone back.” Rhodey let go of Tony and turned around in time to see his project-two months of work-plummet into the water. 

“I made it for you, which means you go get it.” Rhodey teased, but was already taking off his shoes.

“I love you honeybear, but I cannot be seen in public with wet hair, it would destroy my reputation!” 

Neither of them realized it in the moment, too busy snarking at each other, but for the very first time, Tony had admitted that he loved Rhodey. Sure, he praised Rhodey enough and took every chance possible to brag about his soulmate, but he had never used the _love_. Rhdoey hadn’t pushed, and didn’t need that affirmation to continue with their relationship. He knew how Tony expressed love, and unless he was drunk, he usually didn’t go on a tangent about his love for anyone. However, Mr. Lee had whipped out his brand new video camera and was able to capture the moment. And for his very first time using this type of technology, he would say he did a pretty great job. 

“You’re good for each other. I hope I get to see more of you two.” Stan commented as him and Tony watched Rhodey dive in the water to retrieve his drone. 

“How did you two meet?” Tony asked instead of replying to Stan’s earlier observation. 

“Sometimes I go to the MIT library to get ideas of college kids and their lives. I write comics, and James looked like he needed someone to talk to. He told me about you. I’ve never seen a fella so in love.” 

“Do I look like I love him?” Tony questioned, still looking straight ahead. For some reason, he felt the need to brace himself for the answer.

Mr. Lee cocked his head and looked solemn for a moment. “You wear a lot of masks, and you’re good at that. You know exactly how to act and how to charm someone. But your eyes, they can give a lot away. I’ve read the tabloids, you’ve got quite the personality.” Tony flinched. “However, they don’t explain why your eyes light up every time someone does something so genuine, like spending months on a single project solely to make you happy. Those articles don’t even come close to how you look at that boy-he makes you happy, and if I could assume, I’m guessing that you didn’t get much of that when you were a kid.” 

“Why would you say that?” 

“You made your first circuit board at four. Your first weapon came out when you were eleven. I don’t know much, but I do know that most eleven year olds don’t just decide to make weapons. Something, someone, drives them to.” 

“I made a chemical bomb when I was kidnapped for the fourth time, and Howard insisted that I had to make it for SI. Or he would terminate Jarvis’ job.” 

“See? That’s what the world doesn’t know about you. But James, Rhodey, whatever you call him, he broke those masks, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Tony paused, mulling over the conversations. “And he loves me without the masks.” He finally realized, everything around him was slowing down. _He loved him without the masks_. 

“Bingo.” Stan smiled, and then gestured towards the figure walking out of the water. “Go get your man.” 

“Thank you.” Tony smiled, and finally looked at the man.

“I expect a wedding invitation!” 

“Of course!” Tony promised, as he ran down to Rhodey. 

\--

Rhodey stumbled backwards as Tony’s body collided with his. “Wow, Tones, I wasn’t drowning.” 

“I love you. It’s always been you.” Tony rushed, wrapping his arms around Rhodey’s neck. 

The older boy’s breath hitched, “Does this mean I can finally be your boyfriend?” 

"Of course it does." Tony whispered in his roommate's ear. 

\--

Rhodey gave a loud shout of happiness and chose to ignore the people nearby who gave him a judgmental glare. Luckily, nobody was truly paying attention, or they wouldn't have failed to see Tony's face blush as he tried to get his boyfriend to be quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! They're together! Thank you guys for reading and both Eylle9 and I hope you're safe and healthy during this time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is near. Tony and Rhodey are trying to see how their relationship goes. Tiberius may be annoying but Mama Rhodes is always there for her sons. Tony is starting to understand Rhodey better and the big family meeting is getting closer.

For the next month, the two lovers resided quietly in MIT, only reeking havoc when they were absolutely bored, but luckily for the student body, finals had come and everyone was buried with papers, tests, and lectures. On the very last day before Christmas break, Rhodey asked to sit down and talk with Tony. 

_He's going to break up with me._

_He's going to try to break the news gently, and then he's going to leave_ , Tony thought. 

No matter how much Rhodey tried to hammer the negative thoughts out of his mind, Tony couldn’t help but let them creep back, and by the next second, he was convinced that his soulmate, Rhodey, was going to drop him like a sack of rotten potatoes. 

"Hey Tones, look at me, whatever you're thinking, that's not what's happening." Rhodey reassured him as he let the little genius sit on his lap. 

"What's happening then?" Tony’s voice was muffled, his face buried in one of Rhodey's hoodies, one that he had given up trying to get back. 

"I want you to come home with me this Christmas." Rhodey declared, and he could hear Tony's breathing pause in surprise.

After a beat of silence, Tony lifted his head, only to shake it fervently. “No, I can’t-I-I-don’t-”

Rhodey ran his hands through the soft fluffy curls of Tony’s head and kissed his boyfriend’s forehead. “You’re not imposing Tones, my dad invited you. You’re part of the family Tones.” 

“You really want me to come, don’t you?” 

Rhodey didn’t know how to answer that question. Yes, he had wanted it since their third week of college, but he knew that Tony would tear his own world apart to please him. He also knew that prolonged silence would cause Tony to spiral into self-doubt, and that opened a whole new can of worms. “I would like you to come, but I want you to come because you want to be with my family. Not because I asked.” 

“Will you have a real tree?” 

“What type of heathens do you think my mama raised?” Rhodey asked, completely offended and gave Tony the most flabbergasted look he could muster. 

“Jarvis always had a real one, it smelled nice. Mom, she just put some fake holly on the mantle.” Tony explained, and Rhodey was aghast. 

“This is a complete offense, get up, get packing, you’re going to learn how to get a tree the Rhodes’ way.” Rhodey declared, in his military voice, but his eyes were gleaming. Tony wasn’t sure if he should be nervous or excited when he looked like that. 

\-- 

“There’s my boys!” Roberta shouted when she saw Tony and Rhodey in the downstairs lounge. Teenagers turned and snickered over to where Rhodey, ever the mama's boy, was hugging her, while Tony waited his turn. 

“Tony!” Jeanette jumped on him, completely ignoring the existence of her brother Rhodey, who was giving her a fake glare. It was still worth it, because the sheer force that Jeanette jumped on Tony with caused the two to topple backwards, and Tony ended up being caught by Rhodey, while Jeanette’s arm was grabbed by Terrence at the very last moment. They forgot that Tony, despite having a lot of training in many areas, was only two years older than Jeanette, and hadn’t even reached puberty yet. 

They were all laughing as the lounge got very quiet and everyone was shooting Rhodey and Tony nervous glances. Turning around, Rhodey was taken aback to find a face staring right at him, Tiberius Stone. “Nice kiss up act there. How about you go on your knees and please your sugar daddy?” 

Despite the words being hissed, almost everyone was able to hear the words, and the following sound, was the crack of knuckles colliding with bone, which most definitely broke something. It was confirmed a half a moment later when Tiberius’ hand instinctively went to cover his now bleeding nose. But it wasn’t Rhodey who had thrown the hit, and it wasn’t Tony. It had been Roberta. 

“Say that to my son again. Go ahead. I fucking dare you.” 

Tiberius growled, but a moment later, he stalked off to the stairs, most likely going to his RA to report the ”incident.”

The room stayed silent as Rhodey wordlessly grabbed the three bags they had and pushed his way to the door, where he banged it against the wall much louder than necessary. He then stalked to the Rhodes’ old station wagon and slammed the door, making Terrence frown. 

For the first hour, Rhodey barely spoke, and made himself as small as he could in the cramped car. If anyone was taking it personal, nobody voiced it, and instead the three Rhodes’ chattered in the front, with Tony joining in periodically, to the entertainment of Jeanette, who was expressing her love for the ocean. She was convinced that she was going to go in the Navy, but she was open to joining the Marines. 

By the start of the second hour, Tony started to fidget in his seat. He loved the Rhodes, they were family by this point, but Rhodey not joining the conversations made it awkward. 

“I’m sorry Ty said that.” Tony whispered to his soulmate, trying to gauge a reaction. 

Still, in a cramped car, everyone heard the words and they grew quiet when Terrence spoke up. “There’s no need to apologize Tony, you were not responsible for his words. He’s eighteen, he should be able to control his tongue.” The words were almost spat, and Tony could tell he hit a rough spot. 

“Our great grandmother was Harriet Tubman,” Rhodey spoke, surprising everyone in the car. “She helped seventy slaves get to freedom, went on thirteen trips back so she could help other black people reach freedom just like she did. She died a free black woman, and I refuse to dishonor her by letting some white privileged male refer to me as a slave, a kiss up, or any other racist slur.” 

“I don’t know if that’s what he meant-“ 

“He called me a slave! He told me to get on my knees and please you! He knew exactly what he was saying!” Rhodey shouted, and smacked his hand against the door of the car, causing Tony to flinch. 

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Jeanette said softly, ignoring the look Rhodey was giving her. “You’ve never been in a classroom and been the only black person there. They look at you differently, and they judge you. I’ve got a friend who’s white and he’s always being bullied because he hangs out with me, a black girl. They’ve called me a slut and a whore for walking home with him. It's not because I’m smart, or talented, but because I’m black, because I was born with black skin.” 

During the story, Tony’s face shifted from not understanding to anger. How dare they, he thought, judge her because she was black and she hung out with a white boy. Jeanette, like everyone else in her family, was gifted intellectually, and had a charming personality, and Tony could not fathom not liking her due to something as uncontrollable as _race_ . Reflecting back, memories of the businessmen around him pulling out the racist card flooded his mind. Howard was a racist snake too, who had never made a deal with anyone who was even racially ambiguous, and quite often took the more _beautiful_ women to bed because they were the best. The very thought made him feel like he was going to throw up. 

“And now you’re bringing home a white boy and you have to tell all your relatives that Tony Stark, the next CEO of one of the biggest weapons companies, one of the most privileged kids in the nation, is your soulmate.” Tony supplied, not needing them to fill in the blanks. He was smart enough, he could tell what they were referring to. 

“Tony, you are amazing and we’re so happy for you two, but some of our family is...more traditional.” Roberta tried to explain. 

“They don’t approve of interracial relationships, right?” 

“Unfortunately, they are also not fans of same sex relationships.” Roberta sighed, and Tony groaned. He really didn’t want to piss off any of Rhodey’s family, but it seemed even when he was on his best behavior, life didn’t seem to like him. 

“Let’s stop to eat here.” Terrence cut in, parking at the edge of a small field with a lake beyond it. 

While the three Rhodes’ ate their sandwiches on the grass, Tony went over to Rhodey, who was sitting at the edge of the water, already finished his two sandwiches. 

“I guess I never thought about how this could ruin your life. I mean, your family could disown you, there’s DADT, and-“ 

“Don’t Tones. Don’t go there.” Rhodey’s voice sounded pained, and Tony turned to see Rhodey grimacing. 

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, and then mentally slapped himself. What’s wrong? Well Tony, a lot of things, was that really a comforting thing to ask? 

“It’s never going to change. I’m already getting looked down on at ROTC, but I’m one of the top students. As soon as the media finds out about us, they’re going to attack us, DADT will be more than happy to have me discharged, and my grandmother is going to take one look at you and call you a privileged white boy.” 

“But I am one Rhodey. I’m set to inherit a company that makes more contracts than our government has in five years, and I’ve never had a shortage of people to wait on me hand and foot.” 

“What about when Howard kicked you in the closet and starved you? What about when you were kidnapped seven times? Was that privilege?” 

“We’re all born with our problems I guess.” Tony shrugged. “But I’ve never been judged solely on my skin tone and been held back from something due to the color of my skin.” 

“I mean, my momma and dad have worked hard to get good jobs, we live in a better place than most black folks, and they made sure we never got into gangs, and we’ve always had food to put on the table, even dad was working two jobs. In some ways, I guess I’m better off than most of my old classmates.” Rhodey mused and Tony shook his head. 

“It shouldn’t be that way at all. You guys shouldn’t have had to struggle at all because of your genetics. I’m so sorry that you guys-“ 

“Tones, stop, you’re not the reason we’ve had to struggle. You’re my soulmate, and it doesn’t matter whatever happens, it’s us, until the end of the line.” Rhodey grabbed Tony’s hand and squeezed it, giving him the best smile he could muster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all thanks for reading! Secondly, we in no way mean to be racist. If this offended you in any way, we would like to apologize. We are not supporting racism anyhow. See you in the next update!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family gatherings are never easy...but when the truth comes out...
> 
> Rhodey's family finds out who his soulmate is, and they all have feelings about it.
> 
> Warning: This chapter deals heavy with anti-interracial marriages and some of Rhodey's family can be seen as homophobic

The next day, the house swarmed as the Rhodes plus Tony got ready to party for Rhodey being back home. Tony had to admit he was nervous, mainly because he had heard the stories, and the other Rhodes were not as laid back, and he was afraid and he was going to be rejected. As much as he didn’t need their approval, he wouldn’t deny that he wanted it.

As they were cleaning the living room, they heard the very first knock, and Jeanette ran to the door, her pigtail braids waving as she bounced to the main entrance. “Momma they’re here!” She yelled and opened the door to introduce a tall, lanky man beside a shorter brunette. It was clear they weren’t a part of the Rhodes’ clan, but everyone knew who the couple was. 

“Jarvis! Ana!” Tony yelled, and ran towards them, swinging over the couch to get there faster. 

“Anthony!” Jarvis smiled as he reached out to hug the boy who was practically his son. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Tony asked, after the shock of seeing them had died down. 

“We came to have Christmas with you! When was the last time we didn't have Christmas with you?” Ana asked, knowing quite well that ever since Tony was four he had gone over to their little cottage for Christmas evening. 

“Dad actually let you come?” 

“We haven’t taken a proper vacation in fifteen years, trust me, he owes us.” Ana reassured, and Roberta smirked knowingly. 

“Seems like you were quite the trouble maker.” She elbowed Tony, who gave her his award winning smile. 

\--

Soon after the Jarvis' arrived, others began to pour through the doors, and quite soon, the kitchen was bustling with a frenzy of activity and an older lady yelling “more sugah!” for the pie, while one of Rhodey’s nephews tried to sneak a lick of pudding, while the men were gathered in the living room, talking about the government policy that recently passed. 

The women absolutely adored Jarvis and Ana, who were more than willing to help out, and directed the flow of traffic, much to the amusement of Grandma Rhodes. “Have you ever raised chillen?” She snickered as Jarvis shooed the children out for the fourth time. 

“Anthony is the only boy I’ve ever had a hand in raising.” Jarvis answered amicably. 

“That white boy over there?” She gestured over to where Tony and Rhodey were playing with Eddie, one of the twins, and a child who loved trouble. 

“That would be him.” Ana agreed, her voice edged with affection as she watched Tony awkwardly hold Eddie, probably one of the first times he had ever held a child in his lifetime. 

\--

When dinner was finally ready, everyone crowded around the large wooden table to have what Rhodey called “an authentic Philly dinner.” Apparently, fifteen conversations at once was just another part of the meal, and Rhodey didn’t look the least phased. Tony on the other hand looked like he was going to explode with over stimulation. He did however focus when Auntie Millie asked Rhodey a question. 

“Have you finally gone to that fancy temple to figure out what that soulmark is of?” She teased, and Rhodey’s neck turned red and he quickly looked down at his plate. 

“Did you figure it out?” Grandpa Rhodes asked, and poked Rhodey with his fork. 

Uncle Will then jabbed his own fork Rhodey’s way. “I think our Jamie here found his soulmate, judging by that blush.” 

Rhodey glanced up at his Uncle Will and quickly looked down at the floor, as if the tiles had suddenly become very interesting. “Roberta?” Grandpa Rhodes asked, giving her a pointed look.

“It is up to James what he wants to share.” Roberta answered, and the older man frowned. 

“If he’s found his soulmate, then we all must know. This woman will be a part of our family, we would like to meet her.” Grandma Rhodes insisted, and Tony shot Rhodey, whose head was now raised up, a momentary glare. 

Jarvis, who already knew, was trying to divert the conversation at the other end of the table, but Uncle Will was stubborn as hell, and refused to give up. “Come on bud, it’s not like we’re going to embarrass you. Most likely you’ve already embarrassed yourself in her presence...” 

“I have an announcement.” Rhodey cut off William before he could continue with his jesting, and gave everyone at the table his military look, one that meant that he wasn’t messing around. Everyone at the table stiffened and waited expectantly. “You’re right, I did learn what my soulmark is. It’s an arc reactor, an energy source. Stark Industries has been researching one and is planning to build a large one to power their California Headquarters.” 

Before he could continue his impromptu speech, Millie interjected. “That’s why you brought this Stark boy home, to study your mark!” 

Rhodey shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “Yeah, um, not exactly. Tony does know what my soulmark is, he was the one who told me, but that’s not why he’s here.” Tony felt his hand being squeezed under the table, then he saw the determined look on Rhodey’s face. This was the moment of truth.

“Tony is my soulmate.”

It was said so casually, so calmly, and without a single breath of hesitation in it, but all of hell must’ve broken loose because the table erupted. Uncle William overturned his plate, spilled his water, broke the cup, Auntie Millie turned ashen white, Grandma managed to bend her fork in what looked like anger, and Grandpa started to violently shake his head as he backed away from the table. Tony and Rhodey waited for what came next, their hands still interlocked under the table. 

“This is unacceptable!” Grandpa Rhodes shouted, slamming his fist on the table. “Our James is not going to marry a rich white boy! He belongs with a respectful, black, young lady!” 

Tony flinched and let go on Rhodey’s hand, and Rhodey looked momentarily hurt before he gave his grandfather his best stare. “Tony is my soulmate and there’s nothing you can do to change that. Yes, he's white. Yes he’s a guy, and yes he’s rich. But he’s a part of this family and I expect you to treat him as such.” 

The room was silent before Grandma spoke up. “James Rupert Rhodes, sit down. Is this what you do? Go to a fancy college and suddenly think you can disrespect your elders?” 

“Let’s let the two of them go out for a walk before we bombard them anymore, okay?” Roberta tried to ease the situation, but in turn, unintentionally made it worse. 

“Roberta! You’re okay with this pairing? This is soulmates, not just casual dating! They will spend the rest of their lives together, shaming the good name you guys have worked so hard to gain!” Grandma Rhodes exclaimed, and others shifted nervous glances at each other. 

Terrence then got up, demanded silence, and looked directly at Grandma Rhodes. “Look Mama, in this household we respect soulmates and soulbonds regardless of gender, nationality, status, race, and any other thing that we could discriminate against. As long as they are happy and healthy together, we expect for this union to be at the very least, respected.” 

After Terrence’s very passionate speech, Rhodey yanked Tony to the door, and ran. Tony struggled to keep up, but not by much, almost at Rhodey’s heels most of the time. 

\--

“Where are we?” Tony asked, out of breath, when Rhodey finally stopped. 

“This is where I used to play baseball.” Rhodey gestured to the old worn down pits. “They haven’t changed those since my dad’s high school championship, his junior year.” 

“Why did we come here of all places?” 

“Because I need to hit something, and hitting a ball with a metal bat is still socially acceptable.” 

“Okay, I’ll throw then.” Tony went into the dugout and grabbed what appeared to be a basket of worn balls and an old kiddie glove. Luckily, his hand just barely fit, so it would do. 

The ball whizzed through the air and a large thump could be heard as the ball hit metal. It went flying all the way to the other end of the field. 

“I would say that’s a little bit more than just upset.” Tony pointed out, and Rhodey rolled his eyes. 

“Please, I could do that in gym class without even trying.” 

“Okay show off, let’s see what you got.” 

Tony threw ball after ball, and almost every time, the loud thump of contact could be heard, and the ball would be sent flying to who knows where. 

“You should’ve played for MIT.” Tony said, and Rhodey shrugged. 

“ROTC.” 

“Oh yeah.” Tony mumbled as reality hit him again. Most of the Rhodes hated him, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t be above stabbing him in his sleep right about now. 

“My Grandma liked a white boy when she was young. He wasn’t her soulmate, but she liked him. It always made my Grandpa feel lesser, like she had to choose him. They’re happy, but after they got married, they vowed to always stay in the lines, and that means everyone else has to.” 

“I mean, if we tell my dad, it’s going to be worse, right? Closets, throwing, and probably, a drunk man on the loose. It didn’t really go that badly.” 

“Don’t ever excuse anyone, even my family, for being against interracial relationships or having a phobia of two guys together.” Rhodey shook his head as they began to walk back. “Discrimination isn’t cool, and even if they received it, they shouldn’t give it back. Hell, that means they should be the last people judging right?” 

“I mean, logically, but I get where they’re coming from.” 

Rhodey paused and held his hand up. “You what?” 

“Rhodey, you had your life on course. Finish ROTC, join the AirForce, rise up in the ranks and make your family proud. Prove to them, to the world, that you could do it. Your family supported you every part of the way, and in their version of your fairytale ending, you’d be married to a respectable black woman and settle down behind a white picket fence with three kids with a military legacy behind you. Me being that “respectable black woman” really puts a damper on that dream.” 

“That was never my dream. The only thing I want is you. Wherever that takes us, I want to stand alongside you.” 

“I want that too.” Tony whispered, a tear rolling down his face. “But maybe this isn’t the right time-”

“Look at me and tell me that this last semester was the most loved you’ve ever felt.” Rhodey demanded, looking straight at Tony, who tried to divert his gaze.

“I can’t. I can’t because I would be lying, and I don’t want to lie to you.” 

“I know honey, I know,” Rhodey mumbled as he hugged Tony, whose head was buried in his chest, in the middle of the empty dirt road. “I don’t care what my family says, it’s you and me.” 

Tony nodded and looked up. “It’s you. It’s always been you.” 

Rhodey smiled, remembering the first time Tony said that, right after declaring his love, and Rhodey hoped that he would get to hear that phrase a million more times over the span of their lives. 

\--

When they arrived back at the house, an unsettling tension hung over their heads, but nobody said anything as the two walked hand in hand. 

“Mama, where is everyone?” Rhodey asked Roberta, who had previously been washing the dishes. 

“I sent Uncle Will to the store, Millie took her kids to the park, and Grandpa and Grandma are resting.” 

“I’m sorry that we caused so much chaos, I’ll replace your cup and the fork.” Tony offered, and Roberta fervently shook her head. 

“No, honey, the people who actually broke them will be. Are you two okay?” 

Before Tony could shrug, Rhodey nodded his head. “Yeah. We played baseball and we talked.” 

“Is my boy still as good as before?” Terrence asked, holding his son’s shoulders. 

“Even better.” Rhodey grinned. 

“That’s impossible.” 

“ROTC gave me more muscle.” 

“He could’ve played for MIT.” Tony couldn’t help but brag. 

“He was scouted by a few colleges, but he turned them all down for ROTC. MIT was always his dream anyway.” Terrence told Tony. 

“You never told me this!” Tony accused. 

“You never asked.” Rhodey shrugged. 

As if he sensed the lifted mood and wanted to bring it back down, Uncle William came back with his five bags of groceries and practically growled when he saw Tony, but said nothing. Whatever had been said after the two were gone must’ve been terrifying, because William was not one to hold back his tongue, and both Tony and Rhodey knew that. In fact, the whole house, even when everyone came back, was unusually quiet, as if everyone was afraid they would get kicked out, and based off of Terrence’s pointed look at his parents, he had likely threatened something along those lines. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a heavy chapter, and we postponed posting this for a two weeks. We would like to say that in no way are we against interracial marriages, but this is a real world problem that exists, and we didn't want to shy away from this fact. This chapter was written long before COVID-19 and BLM, and we mean in no way to offend anyone. Neither Eylle9 or I are black, and neither of us have experienced this, and we don't mean to make it seem as if we have. It is never acceptable to act out the way Rhodey's family did, regarding both racial differences and same sex marriage, and we do not support these actions. 
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> crazyinfj and Eylle9


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays!
> 
> Rhodey is a sap, Tony is sappy, and everyone is happy!

All of the Rhodes, Jarvis and Ana, accompanied by Tony, sat by the fireplace as Terrance read the Christmas story. He had purposely made it shorter because Jeanette was laying all over the floor and she wasn’t going to stay still any longer.

“Present time!” Jeanette popped up the moment Terrance closed the Bible, and she rushed to grab a large box. “Tony, open this one, Rhodey you open this one. Jarvis, Ana, here you go. Momma, Dad, this one is yours. I got this one.” Jeanette put on her lap a small bundle. All the other presents would go under the tree later that night, but Roberta had purposely put these ones under for their one present of the night. 

All at once everyone began opening their presents, and in moments, ribbon and wrapping paper were scattered on the living room floor. 

“PJ’s!” Jeanette squealed. All of them had received a pajama set, each one with a unique pattern, but included the staple Christmas colors. 

Tony and Rhodey looked at each other and held up their pajamas, and then looked at Jeanette. “You planned the whole matchy matchy?” 

“You bet I did.” She proudly grinned. 

“I love these! Thank you so much!” Ana hugged Roberta. The two women had quickly bonded over their love of cooking and of course, Tony and Rhodey. They had long conversations about almost everything, and both were more than delighted to share embarrassing stories of Tony and Rhodey. 

\--

On Christmas morning, at seven in the morning, Jeanette ran around the house, pounding on everyone’s door, yelling, “Get up! It’s Christmas!”

A series of footsteps tumbled down the stairs before everyone was sitting (or laying) in the living room. Tony was still half asleep, leaning on Rhodey as he tried not to doze off again. Roberta and Ana were wide awake, having been the ones to lay all the presents out, and Jarvis was already baking cinnamon rolls. Terrance was next to the presents ready to pass them out. 

“We should wait for Jarvis Nettie.” Rhodey scolded as she was about to tear into her first present of the morning. 

“Fine.” 

When Jarvis arrived back in the living room carrying warm cinnamon rolls, everyone quickly got up and grabbed one before sitting down ready to unwrap presents. 

\--

”This one is for you.” Tony shyly grabbed the present he had gotten and meticulously wrapped for Rhodey.

Once he opened it, Rhodey’s smile widened. “How did you know this is what I wanted?”

“I could see you looking at it.” Tony responded. 

“Thank you Tony,” Rhodey squeezed Tony’s hand and then crawled back to the tree. “Now time for my present.” 

“You got me a present?” The words slipped out of Tony’s mouth before he could stop them but Rhodey just gave him a soft smile. 

“Of course I did, Tones.” 

The present was wrapped neatly and tidy, and on the tag, instead of Tony’s name, was an arc reactor, but instead of a circle around the triangle, it was a heart. Jeanette, who was peering behind Rhodey’s shoulder snickered, “I always knew you were a romantic at heart James.” 

“Shut up.” 

Tony opened up the present, and to his surprise, it was just a journal. Opening up the first page, he realized it was a journal, and he opened it up to find it dated for the second day of college. It had a picture of Rhodey and Tony as they ate at the cafeteria, apparently taken by one of the people at the table. Below the glued picture, was a small account written by Rhodey. 

_ September 2, 1986 _

_ “I never thought that when I went to MIT that I would get to meet Tony Stark, let alone be his roommate. I thought that if I did, he’d be rude and throw around money. I’m glad I’m wrong. I couldn’t have chosen a better roommate. He’s an amazing guy and reminds me a lot of Nettie. I can’t wait to see what this year brings us.”  _

Tony flipped quickly through the journal and stopped at a random page. 

_ November 18, 1986, _

_ Sometimes I can’t believe that Tony is my soulmate. It’s so crazy. Why would he love me when millions of other people could be better for him? Still, I can imagine myself waking up next to him everyday. I hope someday that becomes the truth. Sometimes I get up out of bed when I can’t sleep and just trace his mark. He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met and I’m so lucky to be his.  _

“You wrote this?” Tony croaked, catching a sob in his throat.

“I did.” Rhodey nodded, and his eyes almost blew out of his head when Tony gave him the smallest of kisses on the cheek. It was barely a brush, but considering neither of them had initiated one since that tell-tale shower, it shocked Rhodey.

“This gift is from Peggy. I don’t think it’ll compete with Rhodey’s but I promised her I would give it to you today.” Jarvis said as he handed Tony a small package. 

Tony hadn't talked to his Aunt Peggy since November, when he found out that Rhodey was his soulmate, but he knew that she was busy running SHIELD, and he had been busy with school. Despite that, Peggy always made sure to give him a Christmas gift, whether in person or through Jarvis. Ripping it open, he found a small key and a locked box. Putting the key into the box, he got the lid to open and inside was a small engraved dog tag, with Rhodey’s name and number already written on. 

“How does she know my numbers? I don’t even know those yet!” Rhodey asked. 

“Aunt Peggy has ways of getting stuff that shouldn’t be found.” Tony grinned as he put the tags around his neck and under his shirt. 

“Isn’t that the truth.” Jarvis mumbled to himself, remembering all the adventures he shared with Peggy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff! Sorry for not updating, I haven't gotten the chance to use my computer for a while (my parents can be kinda strict) and I know that this chapter is short but I've been writing like crazy, so new works are coming! 
> 
> (HINT: Ironhusbands Big Bang 2020)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's freshman year has almost gone on without a hitch...but of course, Stark luck follows him and he's invited to a party. How far will he be pushed, and just how much will Rhodey put up with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, Tony's drink is spiked in this. Not sure if that's a trigger or not, but like, beware. Thank you for reading!

3 months later

Back at their dorm, Tony and Rhodey settled quitely back into dorm life. A surprise to most people was that they were not the most obnoxious on the floor, and were rather dull compared to some of the boys. They didn’t try to purposely get themselves in drama and usually just hung around the sidelines. 

But of course, Tony could not finish out the year without getting himself into some amount of trouble. It started on a Thursday when he was walking back from his last class of the day. 

“Stark!” A group of tough-looking boys yelled across the field where Tony was walking. 

“What?” Tony hollered back. 

“Come over here!” 

Logically, Tony knew he shouldn’t go over because there were seven guys who were perfectly capable of snapping him in half with a single blow, but he wasn’t one to obey logic, and despite the voice that sounded very similar to Rhodey in his head, he headed over in their direction. 

“Hey guys.” 

“Stark, there’s a party tomorrow night at Baker Hall, you’re invited.” 

“Who’s hosting?” 

“Grant and some of his friends. Rhodey’s invited too, but as long as he’s okay with a few drinks.” The guys around snickered, knowing that Rhodey was one of the most responsible students on campus, and he was the last one they expected to pick up a bottle. 

“I’ll think about it.” Tony replied, and walked off. 

\--

“Hey Rhodey?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I’m going to see Grant and some guys at Baker, you wanna come?” 

“Nah, I’ve got ROTC in the morning.” Rhodey declined and then turned to Tony. “Don’t be out too late.” 

“I won’t.” Tony promised, and then went out the door.

“Tones!” Rhodey yelled. 

Tony turned around. “What?’ 

“You forgot your jacket.” Rhodey held out a leather coat to Tony who just shook his head fondly and took it. 

\--

When Tony walked in, the party had already begun, and everyone was milling around while a disco light blinked rapidly. It smelled like someone had spilled a huge bottle of some type of illegal tonic, and Tony could smell drugs from the other side of the room. In the center, girls danced provocatively and had gathered quite the crowd. One of Grant’s friends, Mike, was DJ. 

“Hey man, want a drink?” Grant came up to Tony and offered him a glass of what Tony guessed to be whiskey. He took it gladly and drank it up in one gulp. A moment later, Grant was handing him another one. 

The goal when they had invited Tony was to see what Tony Stark was like when he was drunk. They had known that Rhodey, as responsible as he was, probably wouldn’t come. Which made it the ideal time to see just how drunk and wasted they could get Tony Stark. Of course, it was easy to get people to come, when they heard about the plan and almost everyone wanted to go to a party on Friday night. 

Four drinks in, and the world was starting to be a blur for Tony. He had drank alcohol in his early days, but never to this extent, or with his current surroundings. He was vaguely aware of a girl dancing in front of him, and he saw that a game of poker had started in the corner previously filled by guys trading smokes. 

“So Stark, how about we call this a night?” The girl whispered as she put her arms around his neck. Tony wasn’t even sure who she was, but something told him that his answer should be a firm no. 

“You look wasted, have a drink of water.” Grant handed him a red cup of water and Tony took it gladly. 

“Did you spike-?” Tony crumpled to the ground as the drug in the water started to take effect. 

“Is he gonna be okay?” The girl, named Mindy, asked Grant. 

“Yeah, he’ll be ready to party in a few minutes.” Grant gave her a grin. 

From across the room, Aaron had been dancing with his girlfriend Katy, and barely noticed Tony Stark’s presence. But when everyone started to gather around in the center, Katy had dragged him to see what was up. 

“Tony?” Aaron asked, and rushed to the center. “What the hell did you do to him?” He got up in Grant’s face. He had never been afraid of confrontation, and he knew that he was nothing compared to what Rhodey would do if Rhodey found out they had spiked Tony’s drink. 

“Gave him something to let go, live a little.” Grant slurred, and Mindy next to him laughed. 

“We just want to see how much he can party.” She whined, and Aaron was tempted to slap her.

Instead, he picked up Tony’s limp body and flung him over his shoulder and headed to the other side of the room, where a rotary phone hung on the wall. Quickly, he dialed Rhodey’s dorm number, and prayed to all the gods that he would pick up. 

“Hello?” Rhodey mumbled, and Aaron realized it was almost midnight, and that Rhodey had probably been asleep. 

“I need you to come to Baker right now. Tony’s drink got spiked and he’s become an octopus.” Aaron told him as Tony came back to some amount of consciousness and began to wrap his limbs around Aaron, clinging to him. 

“Shit, okay, I’ll be there.” Rhodey cursed on the line, and then hung up. 

\--

In seven minutes, Rhodey showed up to the party, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t very happy. As he battled through the crowds, people stopped dancing and talking when he gave them angry looks that only their moms would be able to give them. 

“Oh thank god.” Aaron gave a relieved smile when he saw Rhodey coming and tried to pry Tony off of his back, but to no avail. 

Rhodey’s face softened as he came closer and Aaron could tell that some of Tony’s fight was diminishing, as the tug on his shirt loosened. 

“Tones,” Rhodey whispered, “Tones, you gotta get off Ar. I got you Tones.” 

All he got for response was a slurred mumble-jumble of sounds, and he allowed Rhodey to pry him off Aaron's back and he clung to Rhodey as if his life depended on it. 

“I’m taking him back, are you staying?” Rhodey asked Aaron. 

“No, this is enough excitement for one night. I’m gonna walk Katy back and then I’ll go back to dorms. You go take care of Tony.” Aaron was one of the only friends that knew about Rhodey and Tony being soulmates, and he had kept the secret well. Rhodey gave him a small tired smile and carried Tony out the door, and left everyone staring in his wake. 

\--

When Tony woke up, he saw a glass of water and a pill next to his bed. Reluctantly sitting up, he took the glass and swallowed the pill. Under the glass was a note. 

_“Hey Tones,_

_I’ll be back from ROTC at two, Aaron’s down the hall if you need anything._

_Love you,_

_Rhodey”_

Tony could barely remember what had happened the night before. He vaguely remembered a girl, whiskey, and wait, was he hugging Aaron? Why would he have done that? Had he cheated on Rhodey?

Of course, that’s why Rhodey would leave a note about Aaron. He had written a note so that Tony wouldn’t worry, but Rhodey thought Tony liked Aaron! And while Tony liked Aaron, he liked him as a friend, but nothing more. Besides, Aaron was straight, and unless they both got drunk, Tony couldn’t imagine Aaron cheating on Katy. 

_Oh my god_ , Tony thought, _did I kiss Aaron without his consent? I’ve got to go apologize right now. How can I be more terrible of a person?_

Before a whirlwind of thoughts could sprout from that one, Rhodey walked through the door. 

“It’s two in the afternoon?” Tony freaked out, already stressed out enough. 

“Yeah, you didn’t actually go to sleep until four in the morning.”

“I had a class today!” 

“I already excused you. It’s science Tones, you’re okay missing one class. I told them you got food poisoning.”

“I cheated on you with Aaron!” Tony blurted out.

Rhodey stilled and then turned around. “What?” 

“I don’t remember that much but I cheated on you.” Tony’s voice got quiet. “I’m sorry Rhodey.” 

“Tony,” Rhodey’s face broke out into a smile. “You never cheated on me. You were hugging Aaron like an octopus, but you were so out of it you couldn’t even stand, let alone kiss Aaron.”

“So I didn’t cheat on you?” 

“No, you didn’t, Tones. I love you and Aaron loves you too. Trust me, nothing happened except Grant got punched. “

“Wait what?” 

“Grant spiked your drink. Mindy was part of it.” 

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone. I’m so stupid.” Tony hid his head in his hands. 

“You shouldn’t have gone, I agree with that.” Rhodey agreed, as he held Tony in his arms. “But that’s my soulmate you’re talking about. Only I can call him stupid.”

Through tear filled eyes Tony looked at Rhodey. “You’re sappy, you know?’ 

“You’re stuck with me.” Rhodey grinned. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I'm back! Sorry, I've been camping and working on a bang, and so there's not been much time. And my parents are rather strict, so sorry for a month of no updates! Hopefully, when school starts I'll be back to a more consistent schedule!  
> Love you all, thanks for joining the bandwagon! 
> 
> -crazyinfj and Eylle9


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey and Tony reflect on their 3rd anniversary and make plans for the future.

**2 years later, Valentine’s Day**

“Come on!” Tony dragged Rhodey along the streets of Boston. “I made a reservation and we’re going to be late!” 

“I would like to point out that you were the one who couldn’t choose what to wear.” Rhodey shot back, catching up to Tony easily. 

“Here we are!” Tony t-posed in front of a large brick opera house. “You cannot imagine how quickly reservations are taken up here. Luckily, my smile can get us anywhere.” 

The door opened for them and inside, everything was sophisticatedly decorated, while couples of all ages sat at tables across from each other. Onstage, a live orchestra played soft classical music. 

“Mr. Stark, right this way please.” A man in a fancy dress suit held his arm out and led them to a private corridor, where a small table lit with candles was waiting for them. “There is a bottle of red wine, would you care for some?” 

Before Rhodey could protest about not being the legal drinking age, the man poured them the wine and left. On the table were two bowls of steaming hot soup. 

“I introduce to you the fine cuisine of Italy.” Tony said as he spread his napkin on his lap. 

Rhodey sat down and spread his own napkin across his lap and looked at Tony helplessly. “There’s so many spoons.” 

Tony laughed and grabbed the soup spoon. “Just go outside in, you’ll get the hang of it.”

\--

When they were served their main dish carbonara, Rhodey looked at it skeptically. “It looks like spaghetti to me.”

Tony’s face morphed into the most offended look he had ever given Rhodey. “You clearly are not Italian.”

“No duh,” Rhodey replied, and watched as Tony expertly grabbed one of the forks and twisted the noodles onto it. 

Between bites, the couple shared memories and engaged in never ending conversations about their past two years together. After Freshman year, things had really sped up for the two, and their schedules had barely allowed them to go to sleep, let alone spend time together. 

“How is your project going for class?”

Tony perked up, and Rhodey could tell that he had been just bursting to tell him. “A bunch of other people are looking at ways to improve Microsoft.” Tony paused, “But why would I do that when I can create something?” 

“Please tell me this isn’t going to burn down our dorm.” 

“I’m working on creating an AI that grows.” 

“You mean a learning AI, Tones, that’s already been done.”

“I’m talking about one that controls simple devices, like microwaves and that can send fax messages automatically. Imagine an AI that could call someone without needing to be told the phone number. I think I can do that.” 

“Well, I mean, DUM-E is kinda an AI, he knows us, and he’s learned within these past three years. Maybe you could use his base coding…” Rhodey’s voice drifted off. 

As they began talking about possible codes and wiring systems, their conversation became more reflective. “Three years. In a year, everything is going to change.” Rhodey mused and Tony gave a small smile. 

“Can you imagine what younger me would think if I told him we’ve been dating for 3 years?”

“That would be entertaining.” Rhodey laughed. “But it would’ve been a little stressful too. Can you imagine how he would react to Jeanette and her future plans for us? I swear she’s got our entire future laid out in those notebooks of hers.”

“I mean, we probably didn’t help that only your Aunt Milly came for Christmas these past two years, and that Jarvis and Ana came both years. And when we made that play-”

“That shall not be mentioned outside the Rhodes’ house, remember?” Rhodey jabbed a fork his way. 

“I kinda wish my dad had reacted better though.” Tony sighed and Rhodey nodded. 

\--

On their spring break, Tony took Rhodey up to New York with him, not bothering to tell his mom or dad. He just hoped that Howard conveniently was on a business trip.

“Hello?” Tony opened the main doors that lead into the forer. “Jarvis, Ana? Mom?” 

“Tony!” A smile greeted them from one of the hall’s doorways. “Your father is in a meeting right now. I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend!”

“Actually, I’m here for the entire week, Mom, this is my friend Rhodey.”

“Hello Mrs. Stark.” Rhodey held out his hand, but instead of shaking it, Maria merely nodded her head. 

“Ah Anthony, your room is ready, and Rhodey, I have taken the liberty of giving you the adjoining room. Is that okay?” Jarvis asked, knowing full well it was. 

“Yes, thank you Jarvis.” Rhodey smiled and Jarvis glanced at the awkward scene in front of him. 

“May I take your bags? Ana is in the kitchen baking tonight’s meal, I hear it is one that your mother gave her, she has gotten quite good at it.” Jarvis informed, and then scurried off. 

“Oh, you must be the boy that Tony speaks so highly of! It is nice to meet you!” Maria smiled, this time she took his hand and shook it. 

“When is dad getting back?” Tony asked. 

“He should be back early tomorrow morning.” 

\--

“What the fuck is going on?” Howard yelled in Tony’s bedroom at seven in the morning. 

“Huh?” Tony asked, not used to being woken up that way, because for the entire school year, he hadn’t been woken up to yelling and curses. 

“Why is some man sleeping in the guest room?” Howard shouted, and Tony crawled out of his nice warm covers. 

“ _That man_ is my friend Rhodey.” Tony said, his voice clipped and anger already showing. Howard’s face showed no sign of recognition and Tony rolled his eyes. “If you ever paid attention to me, you’d realize that he’s been my roommate for three years now!” Tony yelled. 

“Son, don’t try to lie to me! Ty is your roommate and I barely let that through. Who the hell is he and why is he here?” 

“I broke up with Ty three years ago!” 

“What’s going on?” Rhodey asked, creaking the adjoining door open. Realizing the situation, he suddenly straightened his back and gave a curt nod. “Mr. Stark. Nice to meet you.” 

“Get out of my house you street urchin!” Howard yelled, and Rhodey could smell the alcohol on him. Suddenly he found himself ducking when Tony’s alarm clock was thrown across the room. 

\--

Shaking his head and trying to clear his mind, Rhodey found himself disoriented and in the backseat of a car. His head was resting on Tony’s lap and Jarvis was driving. Ana was muttering something in the passenger seat, but Rhodey wasn’t awake enough to understand it. 

“What happened?” Rhodey asked when his head finally cleared. 

Tony looked at Rhodey and shook his head. “You were an idiot. That’s what happened.” 

“What?” 

“You tried to be the knight in shining armor. You went for my dad’s legs and tried to knock him over. He grabbed what was near him, which happened to be the nightstand and knocked it over your head. You passed out.” Tony’s voice was on edge and Rhodey could tell he didn’t like what he had done. 

“Did you just expect me to let him talk to you like that?” Rhodey argued as the memories came rushing back. 

“I’ve put up with it before and I can do it again. It wasn’t worth you getting hurt over!” Tony shot back, and Rhodey found himself getting defensive. 

“Just because you can put up with it doesn’t mean you should.” 

“I would rather him yell at me than knock you out!” 

“You and I both know it would end up with you getting hurt.” Rhodey responded and he was honestly surprised that Jarvis and Ana were keeping themselves out of the conversation. 

“But I can handle it Rhodey! I have my entire life!” The car stopped and Tony angrily got out of the car, heading up to the random house they had parked in front of, 

“Jarvis? Where are we?” Rhodey asked as the door slammed, and Tony went inside. 

“This is Mr. Stark’s northern residence, and he never comes here. Tony uses it as a getaway. I think Mr. Stark has forgotten that he even owns the place.”

“I’m gonna go in and talk to Tony.” Rhodey sighed and pushed open the door. He had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. 

\--

Rhodey found Tony curled up in a ball down in the basement, his head in his hands while he shook back and forth. 

“Hey.” Rhodey whispered, and slid down the wall. 

“I’m mad at you.” Tony managed to choke out after a beat of silence. It didn’t seem like a lot, but for someone who constantly seeked approval, it was a huge step. 

Rhodey wanted to get mad also, he wanted to argue that Tony’s dad was a piece of shit and that it was high time that someone stood up to him. But he didn’t say anything about that, and took a moment to think about his next words. “I’m sorry you’re mad at me. Can you tell me why so I can apologize?” 

Then the tears came, and Rhodey reached out to hold Tony, kissing the top of his head while whispering sweet nothings to him. 

“Something else is wrong, isn’t it?” 

“I don’t wanna be like him.” Tony sobbed. 

“What do you mean?” 

Tony took a few breaths before he explained it to Rhodey. “I don’t want to be like my dad. I don’t want to be that type of husband.” 

It all clicked in place for Rhodey and he pulled Tony even closer. “You’re not going to be, you wanna know why?” 

“Why?” 

“Because it’s you and me. It’s you and I, it’s always been you and I. You aren’t Howard, and I’m not Maria. It’s us, soulmates.” Rhodey whispered. 

“But what if-” Tony got cut off Rhodey. 

“You and I are going to disagree, we’re going to mess up Tones.” Rhodey lifted up his own shirt. “But this mark means that whatever life throws at us, we’re gonna do it together.”

“Together.” Tony whispered, and squeezed Rhodey’s hand.

\--

Back at the restaurant, the two lovers switched from the rather depressing story to the ones of their past two years, and then they began to talk about the future. 

“So Obie has officially given me the Malibu house, and he wants to know if that’s where we want to move after school.” Tony breached the subject and Rhodey hummed as he finished chewing his noodles. 

“Do you like Malibu?” Rhodey asked, and Tony eagerly nodded.

“We would have a whole ocean view, you can’t even imagine it, plus, we also have an airplane hangar there, so I mean, it’s kinda perfect. Obie wants to know by April so he can get construction going.” 

“How about we go down there for spring break?” Rhodey suggested. 

After a moment, Tony grinned, “What’s Mama Rhodes gonna think?” 

“You should be more worried about what Jeanette Rhodes will think.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know...I’ve been gone for a while, but the fic is finished?? So that’s a good thing! I’ll have it up soon—at least I hope. 
> 
> All, more Ironhusbands coming up on the [Ironhusbands Big Bang 2020!](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Ironhusbands_BB2020) so check it out! 
> 
> Leave a kudo or comment or yell at me on [tumblr!](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things happen in IKEA, sometimes you stumble upon your future PA, a redhead with no time for drama. 
> 
> And thank goodness, because guests come over and you’d think setting up a table would be easier than this, right??

**Spring Break, Junior Year**

“You’re telling me that this whole airplane hangar would be ours?” Rhodey looked like he had just entered heaven, and Tony grinned. 

“Yep, planes and all. Obie never uses them anyways, he uses SI ones, so they’re all yours, I mean, unless he insists on having one. But I got like five in New York.” 

“I love this place already, Tones. 

“You haven’t even seen the house yet!” Tony took Rhodey’s hand and pulled him along. 

The house itself sat on the edge of a sharp cliff, and defied gravity as almost a fourth of the house hovered hundreds of feet above the ocean waves. It was completely white with floor to ceiling glass and so many rooms Rhodey was pretty sure they wouldn’t have time to see them all within their vacation time. On one side of the house was a huge infinity pool, and right near it, was the drive in entrance for the garage, which held what Tony thought to be “at least 40ish cars.”Inside the house it was almost completely empty. It was unfurnished, as Obie told them they should find the furniture that they liked. It made the whole house seem like a creepy museum and Rhodey wasn’t completely sure that an alien wasn’t following through the hallways. 

“What do you think?” Tony inquired after giving the official tour of the house, and sharing a few plans he had. 

“I like it, but we need to get furniture in here soon, this place is creeping me out.” 

“We can go to ikea tomorrow. “ 

“Great, the place with weird names. Where’s the food in this place?” 

“Honeybear, we don’t even have a fridge here.” 

“Do you know any good places to eat then?” 

“Depends. Do you wanna pig out or do you wanna be all healthy and that jazz?” 

“First off, never say ‘that jazz’ again, it doesn’t suit you. I’ll pig out.” 

“Okay then. I call driving!” Tony yelled, running down to the garage. Rhodey gave a holler and chased after him. 

\--

They ended up eating at Wendy’s, where they pigged down on two burgers each with a frosty on the side. 

“So what are we thinking aesthetically? More beachy, modern, natural?” Tony asked Rhodey regarding the house. 

“I have no idea. I was thinking about a few couches and tables. Not much else.” 

“Okay, so we are gonna need a little bit more than that.” 

\--

“Are we lost?” Tony asked for the fourth time. 

“No, it’s this next left up here.” Rhodey insisted. 

“You said that two rights ago.” 

“But this time I’m sure.”

Neither of them had expected for IKEA to be this big, and they had quickly gotten lost. One moment they were looking at a nice dining table, and somehow they ended up in the shower section. 

“Never take me to this place ever again.” Rhodey turned to Tony and he nodded. 

“We need someone smarter with us.”

Once they found a store assistant, which was harder than it sounded, they were able to get back to the dining section and with her assistance, had picked out all the necessary furniture for their house. She had even given them her own opinion with some of the pieces based off of the photographs Tony had gotten from Obie. 

“What’s your name?” Tony asked the girl, and without looking up, she answered. 

“Virginia. Virgina Potts.”

“What are you doing working at IKEA?” Tony quizzed her, and Rhodey could already see where this was going. 

“This is my job, but I’m currently in school.” 

“What are you going for?” Rhodey asked. 

“Business. Maybe a lawyer. I’m not sure about that just yet. But I’ve always been told that I would be good at it.” 

“Yep.” Tony nodded and Rhodey could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. He had already seen Virginia and he wanted her. He could never stay away from fierce women who could destroy him apparently. 

“So would you guys like this delivery placed for tomorrow?” Virginia asked, ignoring Tony’s cryptic look. 

“That would be awesome.” Rhodey answered. 

“We want you too.” Tony blurted out.

“Excuse me?” 

“To help decorate correctly. You know more than we ever could.” Tony assured and Virginia looked sceptical but nodded. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

—

Early the next morning, Rhodey, who had a human octopus laying on him, woke up to the beeping of a truck. Outside, Virginia Potts stood ready and waiting with the delivery men. 

“Why?” Tony grumbled before pulling on a shirt. 

“Delivery is here. Bright and early apparently.” 

—

“I’m going to call you Pepper.” Tony spoke out of the blue as she directed where she thought the couch should go. 

“Why?”

“Because I feel like you would be the type of person to pepper spray anyone you don’t like.” 

“I have.” 

“See? Perfect.” 

“I see no reason why you should give me a nickname when I have known you for less than twenty four hours.” 

“Well, see that’s the thing…” Tony flipped onto the newly placed couch. “Rhodey and I were talking and we want you to be my new PA.” 

“Why would I do that?” 

“Well, you’d get to see me on a daily basis and let’s be real, that’s a perk of the job, you’re already a business major and now you can jump up to assisting the future CEO of Stark Industries. And salary wise, well, that speaks for itself.” 

“You’re dating this?” Pepper gestured to Tony, and Rhodey nodded solemnly. 

“I can’t control soulmarks.” Rhodey sighed and patted Pepper’s shoulder. “At least he listens to you. He doesn’t even heed my advice anymore.” “I’ll think about it and give you a call.”

\--

Tony was clumsy. That was the truth and nobody could deny it. He had one of the most incredible minds in existence, but when it came to simple things like balance and coordination, he failed to make the mark. Maybe that was why Rhodey got worried when he found his boyfriend hanging upside down the ceiling. 

“A little help please?” Tony grinned when he saw Rhodey come into the lab. 

Instead of helping him, Rhodey let out a long suffering sigh. “What are you doing?” 

“Okay, now that you’re down, care to tell me what you’re up to?”

Tony got up and rubbed the arm he had landed on. “If you must know, I was installing the hardwiring for Jarvis.” 

“Why would Jarvis need hardwiring? He’s in New York right now.”

“No. I named my AI Jarvis.” 

“Isn’t that gonna be confusing?”

“I mean, totally, yeah, but like, think of how honored Jarvis will be.” 

“Which one?” 

Tony looked thoughtful for a moment. “Both, I mean, you really can’t go wrong.”

“I thought you were barely done the main coding, isn’t this a little early to installing an AI?”

“Jarvis is a learning AI, which means that the sooner he starts to learn, the more he will know, so it’s better to start early. Besides, the world deserves another Jarvis.”

Rhodey gave Tony a small smile before helping him up. “You made me forget why I came down. Obadiah called, he’s coming over for lunch.” 

“What what?” Tony paused, looking confused, “He never comes over during a work day, are you sure?” 

“That’s what he said over the phone,”

“He called? He never does that.”

“Maybe he’s trying to prepare us. This is my first time meeting the guy.” Rhodey pointed out. 

“Trust me, you’ll love him. He’s more of a father than my own dad.” 

“I mean, that wouldn’t be very hard.”

\--

In celebration of Obie coming, Tony had insisted on setting up part of the kitchen, but the two MIT students didn’t get very far, confused by the instructions. 

“You’re going into engineering Tony, how do you not know how to do this?” Obie teased from the doorway.

“Uncle Obie!” Tony quickly got up and dusted himself off. 

“Hey Tony. Hello, Rhodey, right?” Obie addressed Rhodey, who gave him a small nod. 

“Nice to meet you Mr. Stane.” 

“Tony, did you happen to meet someone with manners? That doesn’t sound like you.” Stane teased and Tony grinned. 

“Hard to believe, but Rhodey is not as innocent as he makes himself.”

The three men, plus the Obie’s two bodyguards, sat down at the half assembled table and Tony poured whiskey (where he got it Rhodey had no idea) and carried the conversation easily. He shared stories of their misadventures at MIT, linking them to days before Rhodey knew him, and finally ended talking about Pepper Potts. 

“She’s going to be my PA.” 

“Tony, she hasn’t even said yes.” Rhodey admonished. 

“She will.” 

“And why do you say that?” Obie grinned. 

“I might’ve paid for her entire schooling, helped her parents financially, and sent her a brand new car.”

Rhodey knew that wasn’t going to convince her to come. Pepper wasn’t one to just come for money’s sake. Tony himself knew that. But Tony didn’t know how to give or convince anyone any other way. They were working on that. 

\--

After Obie said goodbye, Tony dramatically draped himself on Rhodey. 

“I don’t see why you didn’t want to tell him about us.” Tony tipped his head so he was staring at Rhodey’s chin. 

“I don’t know. Something about him, I don’t know. I don’t like it.” “But it’s Obie.” 

“Look, maybe I’m a bit paranoid after everything that went down last spring break.” Rhodey suggested, but knew that that wasn’t the absolute truth. Something about Obie made his stomach churn and his body tense up. 

Silence followed until the phone obnoxiously rang. Neither of the boys looked in a hurry to get up and grab it, but they both knew that Rhodey’s family had planned on calling. And if they didn’t answer, they would be interrogated by Jeanette. And that was not something they wanted. 

“Ello.” Tony answered, and Rhodey mouthed, “what are you british?”

Tony was not British, and Rhodey knew that. But the person on the other end of the line was. “Tony, hello my dear! I was hoping you would pick up! Daniel and I are planning on heading up your way, and was wondering if you were up for company?”

“Of course! Maybe you can help us set up our table.”

“What, you two can’t manage?” Peggy’s soft smile could almost be heard through the phone. 

“No!” Tony sputtered indignantly, “we’ve had some minor, technical difficulties. Anyways, when will you guys be coming?”

“Oh, in like twenty minutes.” Peggy casually answered.

Rhodey’s eyes widened and Tony stammered. “What? Okay, um, yeah, see you later!”

Tony and Rhodey made a mad dash to the lab, where they totally had not been working on a life size model of Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robots for them to fight with. Together, in record time, they had pushed the whole boxing ring into the connecting garage and made sure that it wasn’t visible to a visitor. Right after they did that, they ran upstairs, to where they had been making a giant zipline out of their bedroom and disassembled it. What the adults didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. So in order to recreate the zipline when Peggy and Daniel were gone, they stuffed the supplies in the linen closet. 

\--

“Aunt Peggy! Daniel!” Tony ran off the porch and collided with Peggy, who gave him a large smile before pulling him into a hug. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you James, Rhodey, whatever you like to be called.”

“Rhodey is fine ma’am.” 

“Please, if I can call you Rhodey I insist you call me Peggy. Even Auntie if you want. You’re part of the family now.”

Together the four of them grabbed the three bags from the Sousa’s trunk and headed inside. Peggy inspected the main rooms with a mother’s eye, and Daniel began on the instructions for the kitchen table. 

“Who helped you with the floor plans?”

“Would you believe me if I said we did it together?” Tony asked. Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“No, this has a woman’s touch. For all we know, you guys spent twenty minutes hiding your nerd projects.” Peggy raised an eyebrow and examined Tony’s pink face. “I’m not wrong am I?” 

“No, a lady named Virginia from Ikea helped us.” Rhodey admitted, and Tony jabbed him in the side. 

“Her name is Pepper and I’m making her my PA, you’re going to love her Peggy.”

“Peggy!” Daniel hollered from the kitchen. “You can read Russian, right?” 

“Yes!”

“I think this was written by a Russian werewolf!” Daniel came out and thrust the instructions in Peggy’s hands. “I give up!” 

“This is not Russian.” Peggy pointed at the far left side. “You guys do know that this is the shipping instructions, right?”

The three men looked at each other and then quickly shifted their gaze to the floor. 

Fifteen minutes later, the four of them sat on the newly assembled table and discussed Obie’s visit ~~(Rhodey did not miss Peggy’s forced smile throughout that whole conversation),~~ their last semester at MIT, and future plans. 

\--

Peggy couldn’t sleep, so she decided to explore around the house a little bit. It made her nostalgic, remembering when this house was a mere blueprint. Good old days, who knew that soon Tony and his soulmate would be inhabiting the house? 

Not that Peggy had ever doubted that Tony would find his soulmate, but she had never pictured that it would be so soon, and that Rhodey would be able to love Tony the way he needed. 

Walking down the stairs, she noticed a black rope sticking out of the hallway closet. Being the naturally tidy person she was, she decided to tuck it back into the closet. Opening up the closet was harder than she expected, as the door was jammed shut. After a few seconds of tugging, the door finally opened with great force and a zipline cable landed on top of her.

“Peggy?” Daniel asked from upstairs, where they had been staying in one of the multiple guest rooms. “Peg? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What are these two boys even doing with cable cords?” Peggy muttered as Daniel made his way to her.

“The real question is, do we really want to know?”

\--

At nine the next morning, Rhodey and Tony stumbled into the kitchen, where Peggy and Daniel were already chatting over a plate of bagels. 

“Argh. what are you doing up at this unholy hour?” Tony asked, heading towards the nearest coffee container. 

“Good morning.” Rhodey nodded to them and grabbed a can of peaches and a fork. Without blinking, he mechanically brought the fork up to his mouth and began to eat in a zombie like manner. 

Near the counter, Tony had the pot of coffee to his lips, and was guzzling it as if his life depended on it. Daniel watched in pure amazement (and some amount of horror) as Peggy just shook her head. 

“After you’re done drinking all the coffee would you care to explain the ropes in the closet?”

Tony nearly spit out the coffee that he was chugging, and Rhodey’s peaches slipped off his fork onto the floor, causing him to frown in disdain. 

“Uh, would you believe us if we said it’s for science?” Tony gave Peggy a small grin and Peggy shook her head. 

“Fine! We kinda were making a zipline out of our window so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the lab.” Tony admitted. 

“That makes it sound stupid.” Rhodey shot Tony a glare. “It was also to help me practice jumping out of planes. Physiological reasons.”

“Can I be the first to say how ignorantly dangerous that is?” Daniel pointed out. 

“”What other projects do you guys have planned?” Peggy asked suspiciously. 

\--

“Okay, just, don’t judge us. It’s an idea, but that’s all it is.” Tony assured as he and Rhodey pulled the sheet off the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em life size boxing ring.

“Okay, I gotta admit, that’s kinda cool.” 

“I thought you were going to show me an army of robots, this is relatively relaxing as compared to that.” 

“Wanna see us spar?” Rhodey grinned as he climbed into his blue shell of armor. 

“You’re on Platypus.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No I have not forgotten about this fic!! It’s just, coming along slowly. No I’m just kidding. The ending is already written, I just have to html it all so hang tight!!
> 
> Yess at Eylle9 at [tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/eylle9) here
> 
> Find me/yell at me (crazyinfj) on [Tumblr!](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/). Comments and kudos are love!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December was a month of joy for Tony...but a car crash could destroy all his future plans 
> 
> (This summary sucks it’s late I need sleep)

**A year later, Christmas Break**

By their fourth Christmas with Rhodey, most of the Rhodes’ extended family had come back and chose to celebrate with them. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t tension, but nobody spoke about it. White elephant or not, they still managed to have an enjoyable time. Like always, Jarvis and Ana arrived only a few days after the two MIT students arrived, ready to party and more importantly, sleep. 

“Yes sir, I’ll be sure to tell Anthony that. Ana and I will be coming back December 28, yes, not a day later.”

“Who was that Jarvis?” Rhodey asked once Edwin had hung up. 

“Mr. Stark, he called to see that I had checked him into his hotel. He is going to a scientific convention.” 

“Did mom say anything?” Tony asked.

“She says she loves you and is considering flying down after the conference to celebrate Christmas.” 

“Really?” Tony looked suspicious and Jarvis nodded.

\--

A loud shrill woke up the Rhodes household, and reluctantly, Terrance rolled out of bed and made way to the phone. 

“Hello?”

Roberta came down the stairs to see her husband hanging up the phone before cradling his head in his hands. Something in her stomach twisted, nervous anticipation, she supposed. 

“Terrance?” She asked hesitantly. 

“Roberta.” He lifted his head and buried it in her shoulder. “How am I supposed to tell him?”

“Tell James what?” Roberta whispered. Terrence merely shook his head. 

“Not James.” 

“Tony?” 

Finally Terrence looked up and through glassy eyes answered, “Howard and Maria Stark are dead.”

\--

“Tony.” Roberta shook the boy awake, waking James in the process, who was stuck up against the wall of the twin sized bed. 

“Harah? Huh?” Tony mumbled, rolling over and facing Mama Rhodes with a sleepy grin.

“Come downstairs, something has happened.”

In a moment, James shot out of bed and threw a shirt on. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew enough to know that his mom wouldn’t wake him up if it wasn't important.

“Sit up.” Rhodey ordered Tony, and threw a shirt over his roommate’s head. “Arms.”

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, still half asleep.

“Meet us downstairs.” Roberta told them, and left Rhodey and Tony to themselves. 

“Rhodey?”

“I don’t know Tones, come on.” Rhodey took Tony’s leg and pulled it off the bed. “Out of bed.”

\--

“Tony honey, I don’t know how to say this.” Roberta paused and looked at Rhodey, not wanting to look Tony in the eyes. Rhodey met his mom’s eyes with the same worried look, but his look was for entirely different reasons. “The police called, your parents crashed on a road near Long Island, they didn’t make it.”

Tony’s body stiffened on top of Rhodey and he didn’t speak for the longest time. Finally, he managed to speak. “Does Jarvis know?”

Terrence nodded. “We told them as soon as we found out.”

“Are they okay?” Tony asked, his voice on the rise, and even though it was meant for concern, Roberta was pretty sure that Tony was just trying to steady himself.

“Yes, they are on the phone right now. Tony?”

“Can, um, Rhodey and I go upstairs?” Tony’s voice cracked and Roberta could tell by the tremor of his foot that he was seconds away from losing it.

“If that is what you need. We’ll be down here if you need us.”

\--

“I hate him. I hate him.” Tony said through tears, and punched the wall. “The nerve!”

“Tony, we don’t know what-”

“Yes we do!” Tony lifted his face from Rhodey’s chest and his eyes ignited with fury. “My dad got drunk as hell, my mom tried to be the submissive wife and-”

Rhodey took tentative steps towards Tony, and then wrapped his arms around him. “I’m sorry,” Rhodey whispered into Tony’s hair and finally, Tony broke. 

“He killed my momma.” Tony sobbed into Rhodey’s shoulder, shaking violently. Rhodey, in response, did the only thing he knew he could, he held Tony, occasionally kissing the top of his head, whispering reassurances he knew didn’t reach Tony’s ears. 

“I was gonna see her for Christmas.” Tony choked out. “She was gonna have a good time here. Why did he take it away?” His voice became more agitated and Rhodey didn’t know exactly what to do. 

They stayed like that for two hours, Tony finally crying himself to sleep, draped on top of Rhodey as if his life depended on it, while Rhodey did the only thing he could-he hugged Tony and promised to keep him safe. 

\--

Most days before Christmas college kids were settling at home, catching up on sleep, or attending local parties. That’s not what Rhodey and Tony had been doing. On the 20th of December, they had made the drive to New York to attend the funeral-all which had been planned by Jarvis and Tony. 

“And now, Howard Stark’s son and prodigy, will say a few words.” The minister presiding over the funeral announced Tony, who reluctantly got on his feet. Most people thought his lack of emotion was because of losing his parents, but they didn’t realize that it was really due to the anger he had carried for four days. 

“Thank you for coming.” Tony didn’t look up and Rhodey watched with a pain in his stomach. “My parents knew what the importance of a solid future was for this world and they sought to find answers to questions our descendants would have…” Tony’s voice held a conviction, but Rhodey, he who could read Tony like a book, knew that Tony had simply been practicing these lines in the car. They held no meaning for Tony. He stood there, small compared to the wooden preacher’s stand, declaring words of comfort and _hope_ when moments before he had almost collapsed with the idea of speaking at the funeral. And for the first time in his life, Rhodey truly saw the Stark Mask in all of its power. 

—

“And if you will all sit down, we will proceed.” Howard’s lawyer announced, and the room made a mad rush to sit down. 

The room was crowded. Most of the people present wouldn’t even get anything, as they were just gold seeking business people with no actual connection to Howard. However, Rhodey sat in the front with Tony, there to support him as he inherited whatever Howard bothered to give him. 

“Margret Carter. He leaves SHIELD in your wise hands.” The lawyer rattled off. Peggy rolled her eyes. SHIELD was already in her capable hands, and Howard in no way owned her organization. That man. 

“Edwin Jarvis. To you he gives his New York car collection, all his culinary tools, and his Bora Bora residence. Also, his mid sized plane. Number 43. It is noted that you know which one he is referring to?”

“Yes sir, I do.”

“Obadiah Stane. To you he gives over his Northern California cabins, his board position, his pin collection, his Malibu car collection.”

The lawyer sighed. “As for Tony Stark, the only remaining heir of Howard and Maria Stark, you shall receive the Malibu house, his New York Mansion, and all other residences not given to someone else. Along with this, you have his name sake and his position as CEO of Stark Industries. Along with this, you get all his remaining blueprints, his trust, and his love.” 

“Liar.” Tony muttered, only loud enough for Rhodey to hear. 

“Your mother has also made a note on here. From her, she gives you her piano forte, the family portrait, her jewelry collection, and her flower garden oasis in Southern California.”

“And that is all. Anyone with questions can stay, but that is all that is being given away. The rest will go towards furthering Stark Industries.”

—

“I can’t do this.” Tony whispered, as soon as they emerged from the crowded room. Rhodey took Tony’s hand and led them down the hallway of the funeral home. 

“Hey, look at me sweetheart, I got you.” 

“Can I bring the piano to Malibu?” Tony asked after minutes of silence. 

“Of course. Maybe you can even teach me how to play.”

Tony smiled at this. It wasn’t one of his bright, room lighting smiles, but rather a small, bittersweet smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

—

That night, when they had made the three hour drive home, Tony fell asleep curled into Rhodey’s side, Jeanette leaning on the other side of Rhodey, effectively trapping him in the middle. Tired himself, Rhodey was about to doze off when he felt Tony’s head lift ever so slightly. 

“I love you.” Tony breathed, and threw his arm over Rhodey’s midsection. 

“I loved you longest.” Rhodey whispered back, and fell asleep with a smile on his face. 

“Forever.” Rhodey promised, and brushed the arc reactor symbol on Tony’s hand. “Gonna be right next to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this on dec. 17 but it’s 12:37 but who the heck cares? Not me! (That’s a lie I just backdated this work) Anyways, yes I’m sorry, this fic isn’t the happiest, but it’s coming! 
> 
> Note: I also realized I screwed up some parts of the chaptering-sorry about that guys! I hope it’s all clear now, if not message me! 
> 
> Yell at me (remind me to update really,) on [Tumblr !](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/)
> 
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	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation is the biggest day of a students life...and the speaker has a few words that speak right to Tony.

Four years ago Tony and Rhodey were dumb teenagers with the pressures of midterms and living alone. Today, they were emerging adults ready to go into the workforce. Graduation day. How the years had passed so quickly neither of them had any idea. Their dorm was packed up, moving boxes ready to be loaded onto trucks, and they had said their goodbyes to the people they had called family for four years. 

“I’m not ready for this to end.” Aaron admitted as the trio put on their graduation robes.

“It feels so surreal.”

\--

“James Rhodes.” The speaker read, and Rhodey proudly walked down the aisle in the stupid pattern they were supposed to. 

“Thank you sir.” Rhodey nodded as he took his diploma and went over to the group already standing with their proof of graduation. How he got here so quickly he had no idea. 

Around him, students were either groaning due to the frigid weather, or waiting impatiently for it to end. Despite it being a day with a high of 35 degrees, MIT had insisted on outdoor graduation, which meant that guests were dressed in fur jackets as the students all froze in their thin robes. Not to mention that the fog was terrible that day, so Rhodey doubted that some of the guests could even see the ceremony. He didn’t really mind, as he had been smart and was wearing warm clothing, and was honestly just waiting for them to call Tony’s name. His soulmate was graduating with a triple major, which was almost unheard of, and Rhodey couldn’t be prouder. Of course, Tony had brushed off any compliments and proceeded to remind him that he himself was graduating with a double major--rocket science and aerospace engineering. 

Finally, they got to Tony’s name. “Anthony Stark.” Rhodey could not be more proud, and he was able to meet Tony’s bright eyes for just a moment. His mind flashed back to the moment Tony realized he loved him. He had that same bright smile, and Rhodey hoped that he would be able to see that smile for the rest of his life. God, he couldn’t wait till Tony turned eighteen. He was so ready to marry him. 

“And now, our commencement speaker will say a few words.” Paul Biography, the college president, announced. “Charles Xavier everyone.”

“First and foremost, I would like to say congratulations to every single student on this stage. Each one of you graduates has spent hours leaning over books, cramming facts into your minds before the test in three hours, and to be able to welcome you into the workforce is an honor.”

The man paused and then looked at the mass of students on the field. “I believe that in each one of you is the power to change the world as we know it. Maybe that’s why you came, to equip yourself with the tools necessary for change. I know young adults to be some of the most passionate people on the earth, and the fact that I stand in front of hundreds today is something I do not take lightly. If I could leave with only these words spoken, I hope to relay this word: Thrive. For each one of you standing before me, I believe that you have the power to create change, to live a life you can be proud of. Do not just spend your life going from day to day, instead find ways to thrive in the everyday. Jump into the unknown, raise your voice, get your hands dirty, and love with your arms wide open. Use each opportunity to find a new way to thrive in life, for that will be your legacy.”

“May I say once again, congratulations, to the class of 1989, I’ll be watching to see how you change the world.” 

Tony was left thinking about Charles’ words. With Stark Industries, he had a way to truly leave a legacy, more than guns and bombs, and with Howard out of the way he truly could. Before he could think about it more, Jeanette ran up to him. 

“You guys are so old!” Jeanette laughed as she was pulled into a hug by her, even though she would never admit it, two favorite boys on earth. 

“Awwe, Nettie, you’re sixteen, you’re gaining on us.” Tony smiled, and kissed her on the cheek before leaving to embrace Ana. 

“We’re so proud of our boys!” Roberta said above the noise of about two hundred other families. It didn’t matter, Rhodey heard her despite the noise. He would always hear his mom.

“I love you momma.” Rhodey smiled, pulling his mom in for a long hug. “Thank you.”

“James, you’ve made us so, so proud.” Roberta whispered into Rhodey’s ear and Terrence joined the hug. All their son could do now was not to cry, but his tears ended up winning out and a few snuck out. 

“We must go home and celebrate!” Jarvis started to lead them all back to their two vehicles, where they promised to race each other to the house. 

—

Jarvis ended up winning. How he did it the riders, Ana and Jeanette, would not say a word about, but Terrence took it all in stride and patted Jarvis cordially on the back before they fell into the easy banter that had first drawn them into a friendship. 

“I’m ordering pizza!” Roberta yelled, heading inside the house where the phone sat. “What would you all like?”

“Bacon!”

Pepperoni!”

“Mushroom!”

“All three!” Tony yelled, and Rhodey laughed before slinging an arm over his soulmate’s shoulder. He was about to say something entirely romantic and sappy, when Jeanette broke in the middle. 

“Hey, leave room for Jesus! Or me, in this case.”

“You’re a brat, you wanna know what?” Rhodey began, but Tony laughed and kissed Jeanette on the cheek. 

“She’s a lovable brat. Anyways, wait until she has a boyfriend. We get to give him the shovel talk.”

Rhodey’s eyes lit up and Jeanette pushed him over, and Rhodey dramatically fell to the ground. “I am never letting either of you meet my boyfriend until I’m good and ready.”

“Sure.” Rhodey brushed himself off. “You act like I wouldn’t hack the pentagon if I hear so much as to you dating a boy. I wanna make sure he’s good to you.”

It was a brotherly tease, nothing more than a ruse to rile her up, with a little bit of truth, but Tony couldn’t help but notice the way Jeanette tensed in his arms. He was going to inquire about that later. 

For now, he had a graduation party to attend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’ve got to admit, this is probably my least fave chapter. It’s legit a buffer for the finale ~~and possibly a future fic in this universe~~
> 
> AND OMG YOU GUYS ARE GONNA LOVE THE FINALE. Eylle9 and I have decided to gift you it buy giving it to you as our Christmas gift to the fandom. So sneak in ao3 at some point... I’ll probably update it late Christmas night (so for some of you it might be a belated Christmas gift...) 
> 
> So stay tuned! I hope you liked this chapter! If you did, comment and kudo! Or come yell at us on   
> [Eylle9’s Tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/eylle9)
> 
> [ my Tumblr!](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony’s birthday arrives and Rhodey is ready for the rest of their lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a beautiful journey, and I’m sad to say that this is the last chapter! But thank you guys for sticking by and here’s some indulgent fluff to finish off this story.

Tony woke up to the brush of a hand against his cheek. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes, meeting Rhodey’s soft chocolate eyes. 

Rhodey looked surprised, and was about to say sorry when he just smiled. “Hey Tones. I’m gonna go on a run with my dad. Wanna join?”

Tony shook his head, still too tired to articulate words. Rhodey just smiled. 

“I’ll be back in an hour or so. Mom’s over at Millie’s, but Jeanette is downstairs.”

“M’kay.” Tony mumbled and reached over to Rhodey’s cheek, “Love you ‘odey.”

—

After realizing he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep, Tony crawled out of bed, stole Rhodey’s slippers, and padded down the stairs. 

“Good morning sleepyhead.” Jeanette smiled, putting down her textbook. This summer she had begun taking dual credit classes, and she was all but swamped between classes and her part time job at the local daycare. 

“Good morning Nettie. How’s the math going?”

“I’ll never understand how you like you like doing this.”

“And I don’t understand how you would rather do a workout than math.” Tony teased, pouring himself a cup of coffee. 

“Because I don’t have to use my brain. You wouldn’t know what it’s like to have an empty brain.”

“Says the one who constantly tells me my head is hollow.”

“A metaphorical logical brain is different from a mathematical mind.”

Tony just smiled as he sipped his coffee. “So have you narrowed down your choices in the Marines?”

“I actually had a phone call with an enrollment officer two days ago. I think, don’t laugh at me, I want to be a Marine pilot.” At Tony’s grin, her eyes turned into deadly slits. “Don’t you dare tell Rhodey.”

“I won’t!” Tony made sure to cross his heart. Then his voice turned serious. “Hey Nettie? Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.” 

“Why did you flinch when Rhodey was teasing you about a boyfriend the other day?”

Tony studied her movements as he asked his question and he could pick up the telltale sign of discomfort from Nettie immediately. She looked on the verge of sprinting away, and Tony made no move. He didn’t want to frighten her away. Was she secretly seeing someone? That would be interesting, if not a little bit of drama. 

“Tony, you know how Rhodey’s gay?” Jeanette smacked herself in the forehead. “Of course you know you’re his boyfriend. Stupid question. It’s just-I-it’s hard to explain. I don’t even know if there’s a word for it.”

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Then something clicked in Tony’s head. He smacked himself mentally for not realizing that was what she was trying to say. “You like girls.”

Jeanette looked relieved, and all the stiffness before had dissipated. “Yeah, but like, I can’t explain it. I like both girls and guys. It’s weird I know…”

“Nettie.” Tony took Jeanette’s hand and covered it with his own. “It called being bi. Bisexual to be exact. It’s not uncommon and it doesn’t make you a freak. Besides, just means more options. Your parents are gonna love you no matter what. Just look at Rhodey.”

“Yeah. But he just liked boys. Not both.”

“Yeah? Your parents don’t care about that. They love you and whoever you love. Besides, another bi to add to the family.”

“Wait you’re bi?”

“Bi and ready to die.” Tony laughed, and then released Jeanette’s hand. “I promise you, it’s gonna be alright. Thank you for telling me this.” 

“I brought muffins!” Terrance’s voice carried through the house and Tony grinned. 

“Bi and _not_ ready to die. Race you to the muffins?”

“You’re on!”

—

For Tony’s birthday party, they had sent Roberta and Tony out to go deliver a casserole to a neighbor's house. On the other side of town. They could tell that Tony was not buying it, but also, even though it was May 29th, didn’t suspect a birthday party. Low self esteem. That’s how Rhodey had explained it. 

Jeanette danced to the music as she kept hanging up balloons. She had come out to her parents only two days before, and was at some point, planning on telling Rhodey. Tony had said that if she needed it, he’d be there. Somehow, Jeanette didn’t think she needed him.

“What’s going on in your head Nettie?”

Jeanette almost fell off the chair she was perched on, and Rhodey caught her before she fell backwards. Rhodey raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response. 

“If I tell you, do you promise to not freak out?”

“Yes. Unless someone has hurt you, because then I exercise my right as your older brother to-“

“No one hurt me Jamie.”

Rhodey looked at her skeptically but didn’t say anything. Nettie never called him Jamie, she had stopped when a friend in second grade had made fun of her for it. Now, they only used it as a code word of sorts. To signify if they were being completely serious, or something was wrong. 

“I don’t know how to say this.” Jeanette wrung her hands together. “I’m like Tony. I’m bisexual.”

Rhodey looked relieved, and broke into a smile. “I was expecting that to be a lot worse.” Then he held his arm out for Jeanette as she stepped down. “Nettie. I love you and whoever you choose to love. I’ll only ever make a big deal if that person hurts you. And then I don’t care what gender they are, because they will be my enemy.” 

“Jamie.” 

“I’m serious Nettie. Boy or girl, I’ll make them regret ever hurting you.”

“Thank you.” Jeanette whispered, and then turned back to her balloons. “Tony said you’d take it well.”

“Like I could judge you? I’m gay, Nettie. It would be kinda hypocritical.” 

“I suppose it would be.” Jeanette laughed, before turning back to her own work. 

—

Tony loved visiting the Rhodes’ neighbors. Most of the people were quite interesting and held more valuable lessons than all of Howard’s so-called friends. But as to why he was going today, alone, he was not entirely sure.

After an hour of discourse, Roberta finally got back into the car and Tony practically sighed in relief. It almost seemed like Roberta was stalling. 

And a part of him wanted to be right about the stalling. To perhaps suggest that they had remembered his birthday and were planning a big surprise party at the house. But somehow, a voice that sounded eerily similar to Howard’s seemed to condemn him for thinking such thoughts. So he didn’t say anything and let Roberta, or mama, as he affectionately called her, tell the story of their neighbors as they passed the houses. 

Somehow, it hurt knowing it was three in the afternoon and Rhodey hadn’t done so much as acknowledged his birthday. For his past three birthdays, Rhodey had spent the latter of the afternoon with him, usually eating a cake from a boxed mix he had whipped up in between classes, or the last year, when he had been so busy he had DUM-E attempt to make it. That was how his birthday was announced last year. With fire alarms. Across campus. 

Tony just supposed that the rush of graduation and arranging his plans with the military had caused Rhodey to forget. That was okay. He had just been given a graduation party, a huge one, so he couldn’t ask for more really, could he?

—

Tony was surprised to walk into the Rhodes’ house without seeing anyone in the living room. Where was Terrance? His favorite radio program, the unsolved mysteries on, was on today in five minutes. Surely he hadn’t forgotten?

“SURPRISE!” Tony jumped a foot into the air when the lights flicked on in the kitchen and everyone jumped out of their hiding places and then his face broke into a big smile. 

“You guys remembered?”

“Of course we did.” Rhodey walked up to him and smiled, “You’re my soulmate Tones, I wouldn’t forget.”

At that Tony melted into Rhodey's hug, and began to scan the room. A two tiered cake sat on the kitchen table, and was surrounded by the Rhodes, Jarvis, Ana, and their new friend, Bruce Banner, who they had met at the local library. 

“Happy birthday Tones!” Jeanette yelled, and jumped on Tony’s back. Luckily for him, in his four years at college he had grown and was able to not crash into the ground like his very first Christmas with the Rhodes.

“We have a bunch planned, but first,” Jeanette thrust a pamphlet into Tony’s hand. “Scavenger hunt.”

Tony looked curiously at Rhodey, who himself looked like a deer in the headlights. Something was amiss with Rhodey and Tony aimed to find out. Hopefully he wasn’t uncomfortable with the fact that Tony was of legal age...That was it, wasn’t it? Rhodey was uncomfortable with him being legal age. 

Except, how did that change things? Besides being able to...oh. That made sense. Rhodey was uneasy about sleeping with him. But why? Was he embarrassed to sleep with Tony? 

Not wanting to enlighten others on his sudden mood change, Tony gave Terrance a large smile and plucked the pencil out of Bruce’s hand. “Brucie, let’s do science!”

\--

“You’re acting strange, stop it.” Jeanette hissed at Rhodey, who only could glare her way. 

“I’m not acting strange!”

“Yeah you are. Cut it out. Tony’s got his little worried face on and everything.” Jeanette scolded, and Rhodey only frowned. 

“I’m just, nervous, I guess.”

“Yeah, well Tony has a kicked puppy look on his face and I don’t like it so pull yourself together Jamie.”

Rhodey took a deep breath then glanced at Jeanette, who nodded supportively. “Better?”

Unknowest to them, but Tony had been watching the whole discussion with keen interest, but was unable to hear what dialogue had passed. Was Rhodey really that worried about being with him? After all this, was being legal age going to mess this up? 

“Okay, according to the map, we have one more place to go.” Tony looked befuddled for a moment and then with a hesitant voice, said, “And according to the directions, we’re going on the hiking trail we went on last week.” Tony’s eyebrows furrowed. “Bruce, we did do this correctly, right?”

“There’s no way we could’ve done it wrong.” 

“Well then, let’s hop in the car guys. Race you to the mountain!” Terrence yelled to Jarvis, who had quickly begun to sprint to his own car. Since graduation, Terrence had, at every chance available to him, tried to beat Jarvis. Yet, even now, he had still lost every time and Jarvis and the passengers refused to say how. Ana’s only hint was that years of being Peggy Carter’s chauffeur on missions had taught Jarvis quite well. 

\--

When Tony held Rhodey’s hand in the backseat, he didn’t imagine the amount of pain it would bring him. Rhodey was as tense as rocks, and his expression grave and eyes lost somewhere else. From the front seat, Roberta cast a concerning glance at Terrence, and Tony couldn’t help but feel like his heart was on the verge of breaking. 

_What was happening? And why was everyone acting so weird?_

—

“There’s nothing here.” Tony declared, when they had reached the given coordinates. 

‘What do you mean?” Bruce came running up, only to stop right behind Tony, also at a loss. “No, this can’t be right. I did the math, you did the math. We couldn’t have-”

Tony turned to Bruce, confused to why he had stopped mid sentence, only to find the man gaping behind Tony. “What?”

Tony wasn’t sure if he actually _wanted_ to turn around, but curiosity got the better of him and he turned to see his soulmate-his other half, on the cliff’s edge, on one knee. 

\--

Once Rhodey had gotten Tony’s attention, he panicked. With Jeanette, he _had_ been practicing a speech, but the moment Tony turned around any recollection of that speech left his mind, and quickly he lost the ability to form coherent words. 

Taking a deep breath, Rhodey began, “Tony, I love you. I love you so goddamn much, I’m so thankful to be your soulmate, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I wanna spend the rest of my days loving you. Will you marry me?”

A pregnant pause followed, and Rhodey was panicking--had he read the signs wrong? Was it too early?? Did Tony not feel the same-?

“Yes.” Tony ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug. “Yes a million times.” 

Rhodey felt the weight of Tony’s body draped over his own and let himself relax. This was it, this was his future. Oh god, he was so ready for it all. 

In front of them, Bruce shuffled nervously, but obviously happy for the engaged couple. “Well this explains the coordinates a lot.” 

\--

By the time Rhodey and Tony were ready to go to sleep that night, it was around one in the morning and they were both overtired and sappy. Jeanette had declared that she was going to bed an hour before because, quote, “They disgust me. Imma throw one of them out the window.”To that, Ana had a devilish grin and remarked, “Pretty sure the other would jump out the window with them.” 

“Hey!” Tony had said defensively, only to get a knowing grin from every single person in the room. Fine. Maybe Nettie was right. 

Still, something like nervousness stirred in Tony when they went into ~~Rhodey’s~~ _their_ room. In short, Tony was definitely overthinking the entire thing. It wasn’t like things had changed much. He was a legal age, but no different than yesterday. Heck, he was _engaged_ to Rhodey, so why did his brain have to betray him and worry about every single possible outcome? 

Sighing, Tony dried his hair, wet from the shower, before getting dressed. He would act normal. Sauve. He would not make a big deal. He was eighteen. But that didn’t mean his whole life was gonna change. Nope, he was engaged. That wasn’t life changing. Just another day in life.

“Good night momma.” Tony kissed Roberta’s cheek, and Rhodey followed in suit. Tony still couldn’t believe that not only was he unofficially part of the family, but now Mama Rhodes, Terrence, and Jeanette would be his in-laws, he would be all the family parties and everything in between. Even though he had a standing invite regardless, it just seemed...surreal. 

Silently, Tony followed Rhodey upstairs to Rhodey’s room. It shouldn’t be different, they had been sharing a room and bed since freshman year, but now being so official, it changed things. And Tony wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

Of course he was happy to be engaged. Rhodey was his soulmate, he loved him. But with such a label on their relationship, how would Rhodey feel about the other parts of their relationship that were now available?

“What’s going through your head Tones?”

Rhodey’s voice broke Tony out of his trance and he realized he hadn’t even stepped through the doorway. 

“Is this what you want?” Tony asked, making a point to _not_ look Rhodey in the eyes. He wasn’t sure if he could right now. Not with his heart on the line like this. 

“What do you mean?’ 

Tony didn’t look up but he didn’t need to. He could see Rhodey’s face without his eyes. He could see the hurt that was tracing the words. 

“You heard me. Is-is- this what you want? Me to be here?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because I’m legal age,” 

When Tony looked up, Rhodey’s face was distressed. “So what? Tony, what is that supposed to mean?”

“Doesn’t that change things?”

“Like what?” Rhodey asked, and Tony could tell from the pacing of his soulmate that Rhodey was ready to fight. Despite what most thought, Rhodey was a ball of fire, just waiting to be ignited enough to explode. And it seemed like sparks were already flying about them. 

Tony wondered if Rhodey even was on the same page as him, if he even realized what legal age insured. “I don’t know...you said nothing would happen till I was legal. Now that I’m legal we’re engaged and we can do anything...doesn’t that change us?”

“How Tony? How does it change us at all?” 

“I’m not sure but you know it's true.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Rhodey complained, and then took a deep, clipped breath. “Was I too early? Do you want me to wait? Tony, please, talk to me.”

“I think you know what I’m referring to. This whole day you’ve known it.” Tony accused, and then looked back down at the floor as if it suddenly held great interest.

“Known what?”

“Tell me why you haven’t looked at me in the face today!” Tony’s head snapped up and something like anger danced in his eyes. “Tell me why every single time I looked at you today you looked like you had been cursed!”

Something must've clicked in Rhodey’s mind because suddenly he was reaching out to Tony and wrapping his arms protectively around him. 

“God Tony, that’s not, I’m sorry.” Rhodey murmured as he kissed Tony’s head. “That wasn’t why I was weird today. Gosh Tony, no. I was worried about impressing you.”

“Impressing me?”

“I’ve been planning my proposal since graduation, and it got to my head. I’m so so sorry Tones, I know what it looked like-”

“Shush.” Tony said, before he went on his tiptoes to kiss Rhodey. 

“I love you” 

“I know.” Tony mumbled, in between breaths. “It’s always been you.”

“I was made for loving you.” Rhodey whispered, as he wrapped his arm around Tony, his hand pressing against Tony’s soulmark. “I don’t know much, but I know that I was made for this, loving you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! (If you celebrate it) here’s any gift to you! I hope you liked it! 😁
> 
> I wanna thank each and everyone of you who stuck around (or joined) this ride of a fic. It’s been an amazing almost year ~~wow I’m bad at updating~~ and it’s something I’ll never forget. 
> 
> Thank you for coming along and for the final time, come yell at me on [Tumblr!](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Or... Eylle9 on her [Tumblr!!](https://tumblr.com/blog/eylle9)
> 
> Comments and kudos are love ❤️ thank you for this amazing journey. We’re gonna miss you all sooo much. We love you 3000


End file.
